Feature request for next version: castellated mounting holes

I just wanted to suggest that for the next spin of the Proffie board, you add castellations to the mounting holes to make it nicer to surface-mount the board to another board. I think there’s enough room to add them adjacent to the existing holes; I don’t think they have to be complete half holes, just a divot will do. TIA!

For surface mounting? The proffieboard has components on both external layers though.

Oh you’re right. I’m an idiot. Disregard.

Castellated boards with components on both sides can be mounted to another board if you have a cutout that is large enough for the components. It might make routing a challenge though.

However, in order to cram more features into future boards, it’s likely that some pads will use surface pads instead of through-hole pads. I think space saving will most likely be more important than making the board surface-mountable.

That said, it might be a good idea to make a “pro” board which is meant for integration rather than hand-soldering, although I’m not sure exactly what that would look like.

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PROffieboard, coming soon to a saber shop near you. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Then the pronunciation will only be more confusing for people!)

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I was thinking that, but for my application there’d be no way to get at the SD card socket.

This was motivated by my current build. I hate soldering wires to things, and realized I could make a custom PCB for this hilt that would leave me connecting only the blade wires. I thought it’d be cool to just plop the proffieboard onto it, forgetting there were components on the back. I can still make it work with header pins, but I wanted nothing protruding on the back of my PCB in order to lay it all the way down at the bottom of the hilt cavity (I already have to cut out a space for the battery).

I would ask for larger holes for the high-current pads :slight_smile:

You may have chosen the wrong hobby. :slight_smile:

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Indeed. I curse my passions every day.

One variation I’ve considered lately is to make a proffieboard where the SD and USB are rotated 90 degrees, so they stick out the side. The board would also be a bit wider and shorter. For any removable-chassis build, this would probably make it easier to access the SD card and USB connector.

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How about on-board flash storage and a remote USB-C connector (via FFC cable) and Li charger? :smiley:

Proffieboard M2 has entered the chat.

Those pads on the PBv3 feel sad, lol. In seriousness, the microB extensions I’ve seen do basically this, and there’s a plethora of USBC breakout ports that are nice and compact for use with the new v3.9 pads. Theoretically you could use pretty small wires for those. (Still not as thin as FPC though, obviously)

I mean, the v3 already has this. As fast as USB 1.0 allows at least. USB PD would open a fun can of worms…

Using connectors for various things is definitely one way to go to make it easier. I could imagine having connectors for accent leds, buttons, speaker, usb, i2c, etc.

Having the SD Card and USB ports on the skinny end makes it easier to have them accessible by just removing the pommel… or by removing the pommel and pulling out a speaker pod-- which makes it accessible while a blade is inserted, which makes the serial monitor more useful. Putting them on the wide side is a difficult trade-off–(then again, it would stop the mass producers from boxing the SD card into space too small to remove the SD card).

My wish list: 1) make the pads for the USB port more accessible so we can easily wire in a USB port where-ever, e.g. big pads on the underside or through hole pads. 2) An easy way to add SMD resistors for data 2-4. I’m new so my wish-list may not be so meaningful, but I saw an opportunity to ask, and I’m taking it.

I have considered this but not thought of a good way to do it.
If you think of something, let me know. :slight_smile:

“something” I can do… but “good” maybe not so much. :wink:
A daughter board would be easy but takes up a lot of space–but could be sold with resistors already on it–or left out to customize based on the need (eg rgb buttons with specific needs).

The other (probably worse) idea: move them to the end where LED2345 are located and have two rows of pass-through holes with enough space to add a resistor between them. We could use the inner pass-through without a resistor or add a resistor and use the outer-pass-through. Depending on how the pcb is printed, the outer holes could even be clipped for a shorter board if not needed.