DIY Mini Proto Board



  • I just started working with the M5Stack two days ago and I've to admit that's a realy nice "thing".

    My exploration is currently limited by 2 issue:

    • Download problems (due to weak reset handling like may others)
    • Limited availability of extension boards (at least in Germany)

    In order to tackle both problems, I decided to pull out my soldering iron and created a mini bread board which connects to the extension port on the right side of the M5Stack:

    0_1514105133627_MiniProto_Overview.jpg

    The board directly connects to the ports of the M5Stack and contains beside a capacitor to resolve the download trouble also an adapter incl. screw terminal I'm using to connect a high speed CAN transceiver plus a D-SUB plug.

    0_1514105240448_MiniProto_Board.jpg
    0_1514105256164_MiniProto_ScrewConnector.jpg

    This was a quite nice example to go ahead a simple "hello world" ;-)

    I hope that in the future the download problem is going to be solved inside of the M5Stack HW and that a reseller like Amazon or Conrad would become available also in Germany (I would really like to get hands on the proto board with housing and the self balancing robot extensions).



  • @sr Good Job! It is a good idea for me.



  • @m5stack Thank you.

    I would be very happy if the core and base modul housings could be made available as 3D STL files. Then I could try to create a custom case for this extension board.



  • every model can 3D print by sla



  • Yes, but currently only the housing 3D model for the proto board is available on github. So it would be helpful to make also the core and base as STL available there. My idea is to create a "housing" which would allow to fix the core incl. base plus this extension in/on it.



  • @SR Here are a protoboard case STL file. If you are capable you can redesign and make for your own.

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2754642



  • @Kryten Thank you, this looks already good.

    Better would be the housing of the base board because I need to align the pin break out area with the stands of the proto board. But it's a beginning.



  • @SR aWho big is your Proto board? any drawing?



  • It's a standard 7x5 cm board with interconnected holes. The mini bread board on it measures ~ 4.5 x3.5 cm.



  • Cool. I will see if can find the time to make a "shield" like that. So you just move the bottom PCB and battery (if needed) over to the printed version.



  • My idea for a housing of the proto board would be more like a case that can pick up the complete M5Stack inclusive the button board without disassembling it at all.



  • Like this?

    0_1516276250713_655ea64e-fa55-4440-b574-cd5a932c94c4-image.png



  • No. There is the button module completely replaced. I would like to keep it attached. I thinking about some kind of encloser around the housing of the M5Stack with a slide in mechanism. That was also the reason way I was asking in this thread for STL model of the hole case.



  • So you want to hae the M5 as is and slide in to a module with your protoborad on?

    Something like this?

    0_1516696119101_13f1eeff-868a-4a99-b8c0-00399a603268-image.png



  • Yes, pretty close to your design.