Build Thread- Picstep DRAGON custom w/PMinMO BOB

[JohnnyVegas]

I am building from scratch all electrical for my build. I should have been completed with the first Picstep board by now but Digikey forgot to ship my resonators and I'm waiting till the replacements arrive sometime in the next 4 days.

Here is my progress so far:

I started by laser transfer and did a custom mix for the etching solution. It turned out pretty nice as you can see from the pictures. I won't go into too much detail here as you can find many videos on the transfer process.


Next, I drilled all the holes using a nice dermal drill pack I found (LINK). I think I paid about $10 for the 7 pak. I used the two smallest bits for the component holes and the largest for the screw downs in the corners. They are the smallest I could find at my local home centers. It turns out these are EXACTLY the perfect size.

I placed the bits in the my press and drilled away:


Came out nice. I looked over the board with a glass to ensure there was nothing 'fishy' with any traces.


Once all the holes were done I cleaned the board and prepared for the next step. My custom screening graphic.

(Continues...)

[JohnnyVegas]

I have been trying to find a way to get a pro screen effect on my DIY boards. I came up with this process after trying out some ideas on my PMinMO 4 axis (LINK) and I think I found the fastest, nicest & easy way. You be the judge.

I went to the computer and for some reason I got stuck on a DRAGON theme. I went through my sketches of dragons but none were transferred to computer just yet. Since this was just a concept I didn't want to spend too much time agonizing over it but I had some basic ideas of what I wanted. After all, I was not quite sure how this was going to turn out.

So after searching and searching I found a nice one at AMD's website. What's nice, is it's open source (i think) so that's even better!
Here the link to the download page: AMD Fusion Press kit

I choose this one:


Now time for the magic:


I played around with layout and colors. Added textures, the Picstep logo, board overlays and of coarse gave credit to Alan for creating the board in the first place.

And now, because of this graphic, my board is known as the "Picstep DRAGON - fusion 4.0".

(Continues..)

[JohnnyVegas]

So having a rough idea at this point I went back to the PCB.
After measuring and adjusting I knew it would be best to prepare the top side of the PCB with color. This would allow a nice boarder around the screen if it happened to be too small.

To prepare the PCB I cleaned and sprayed it with professional/industrial enamel. Flat black. This stuff is strong and is meant for tools and heavy use.

**It dried flat and VERY VERY SMOOTH**

Once that was finished I did multiple coats of spay on lacquer. It dries smooth and quick. I probably did a total of 4-6 layers.

It dried perfectly smooth. These photos were taken right after first spray.

In the mean time I printed a few final drafts of the screen I liked. One RED version and another not-so-complete dark GREY version. I pinned them to my easel and began to use the same lacquer to coat the graphic. I did 10+ coats and left it over night to dry.

**This one in the photo is not the final design. This was a backup just in case I ruined the RED one.**


NEXT: How to print the screen properly to get the BEST effect (continues..)

[JohnnyVegas]

Printing the screen/graphic:

I don't have some magic super trick here just some advice on making the print as professional as you can get. It really depends on what you have available. This was a trial an error for me so I'll just cover what worked and what was a waste of time.

First, I have a nice laser color and an HP photo printer. After testing both on regular paper they were pretty equal. The laser was a little more crisp but the HP had better depth of color. Overall both sucked as they looked like they were printed on a home printer. Also, I needed something that can take the lacquer coats and regular paper just comes out OK at best.

I tried some glossy paper for color laser and a glossy tri-fold inkjet paper I had laying around. Better but surprisingly not the best. The glossy was interesting and the lacquar seemed to take OK but it was a little more fussy due to the glossy coating. The search went on...

After looking around my local office supply I saw Avery (18665) (LINK) 8-1/2" x 11" clear sticker paper. Print whatever and stick. I was very excited. I did test it on a simple cheapo driver board I was playing around with. The first picture is of the graphic I experimented with and used.


To me it was not that great. The 'paper/sticker' is very thin and smooth. It is not completely clear more milky really.
Also, the ink from the inkjet did not hold well on this 'paper/sticker' and the prints are somewhat washed-out. After I applied it to the board any errors, problems and colors I had showed through. Even with a thin coat of metallic paint for the base. It generally comes off grungy and is somewhat easy to smear as you populate a board.

Not to mention it was a real pain to peel, line up the holes perfectly and stick. Once this is down it's down.

At this point I knew what I was looking for. A premium grade heavy stock with limited gloss cover. This would allow for a continuous smooth cover on the board. Anything too thin and shiney will show any smudge, lumps or bumps and over all not worth the effort really. If you look close on the PMinMO 4 axis I used a clear spray-on Poly gloss coating on plain color paper. It turned out nice, has a cool shine but any flaw in the paper, spray, handling, backing glue, etc will show through. I needed something that was stiff, strong, printed fantastic and can take heavy coats of a spay coating. I went back to the office supple a little puzzled.

After buying a few packs of various HP papers I found what works best for me and this application. HP's premium matte presentation paper. Along with this same paper setting in the printer software I think I fell in love right there. Hands down this IS a fantastic printout. Another thing that increased the print was using the advanced printing functions in Photoshop. Photoshop has professional color controls for adjusting your prints. By increasing the saturation of the inks a little you could not tell these were printed at home. The quality is night and day over a standard color paper. This paper has very nice weight and took the lacquer wonderfully. No bleeding even on heavy coats. I could spill coffee on this thing and believe I could wipe it up and move on. It also remained flexible even after 10+ coats of MATTE lacquer.

So I would suggest using this paper if you can with an inkjet.
If someone has other suggestions I'm all ears.

(Continues...)

[JohnnyVegas]

So at this point I had the PCB with a nice black finish, holes drilled and my final design ready.

This is the best way I found to line up the board with the holes. The following pictures are from the PMinMO 4 Axis build. I did the same for the dragon.

Just poke some reference holes in the screen and use tacks as posts to align it. I used a light spay on adhesive then removed the tacks and pressed it flat with a book or similar.





Spray a few more coats, trim the paper to the board with a razor, touch up the edges with a nice sharpie and done.
I think you get the idea from the pictures.

[JohnnyVegas]

Ok so I hope I gave all the details I can on this. Here is the dragon after all this with the wire jumpers in place.



And here at 90%:

[ger21]

How about a higher res pic? Looks cool.

[JohnnyVegas]

Originally Posted by ger21 How about a higher res pic? Looks cool.

thanks. Sure. My camera blurs out when I get too close. It's at 10+ mega pixel though. I'm working on my PIC programmer now. I'll get a few more up close when I can today.

[ger21]

Try backing up and zooming in. Easier to focus that way.

[JohnnyVegas]

Originally Posted by ger21 Try backing up and zooming in. Easier to focus that way.

Here's some more pics. This is the best I can get with my Casio 10.1. I keep putting off getting a NIKON D3 or D700. Been waiting for the next long overdue vacation.

[JohnnyVegas]

I was going to document the construction and testing of a DIY Pic programmer here. Is anyone interested in seeing this?

[JohnnyVegas]

And just a little test. I've been known to spill my coffee on electronics..



Opps...

Damn...

It's ruined!!




I guess I could spill coffee on these things..