Wiring Cleanup + Stress Test Bug (the last devlog)

Only 1.5 hours logged today but honestly it felt like an eternity trying to make this thing actually usable and not just a ticking time bomb of loose jumper wires lol

Ditching the breadboard
First thing I did was try to make the ultrasonic sensor voltage divider permanent. I literally spent like 45 mins just trying to solder two tiny SMD resistors directly inline with the jumper wires cuz I didn’t want a bulky perfboard hanging off my robot. Trying to heat shrink those tiny connections without melting the actual wires was a literal nightmare bruh. My hands were shaking so bad but it looks so much cleaner now.
Also spent a bunch of time crimping and soldering proper JST connectors for the battery and the 12V DC motors. My fingers are actually numb from dealing with those tiny metal crimps, but hey no more sketchy alligator clips accidentally shorting stuff out!!

The Stress Test (AHHHHH)
Since everything was finally hardwired and looked legit, I decided to run a full system stress test. Wrote a micropython script to run the I2C screen, poll the ultrasonic sensor, sweep the servo, AND blast the DC motors at max speed all at the exact same time.
And guess what happened??? The ultrasonic sensor immediately started spitting out completely garbage numbers again. Like it said my hand was 400cm away when it was literally right in front of the sensors. WTH???
I stared at the serial monitor for like 20 minutes before I realized it was electrical noise from the motors messing with the sensor’s echo pin. Literally the DC motors were just screaming and sending EMI interference everywhere through the board.
Took me another 20 mins to fix it by tightly twisting the motor wires together to cancel the noise and slapping a tiny ceramic capacitor across the motor terminals. Tested it again and BINGO it works flawlessly even at max throttle!

Getting everything to actually play nice together under full load is acc so frustrating but the hardware is FINALLY rock solid. We are officially ready to mount this onto a chassis!!! LETS GOOOO

Btw I also recorded this video to show how many times I failed on making rukus lol

Final Stage Testing + Fix some little bugs

First I started with the I2C screen……I hooked up the SDA and SCL pins, ran a simple I2C scanner script in micropython, and it returned absolutely NOTHING. I literally spent almost an hour just intensely staring at my multimeter, checking the continuity back and forth between the RP2040 pads and the pin headers, genuinely convinced I had somehow fried the I2C bus during reflow. Turns out the jumper wires I was using were just completely broken internally??? Swapped them out with new ones and BOOM the screen turned on and displayed my text perfectly lol

Next I moved on to the ultrasonic sensor and a servo motor. The servo was pretty chill, just threw some simple PWM code at it and it was sweeping perfectly. But the ultrasonic sensor was returning the most garbage random values ever. Took me another solid hour to remember that the echo pin on the sensor dumps a 5V signal and the RP2040 only takes 3.3V logic…….I almost burnt my MCU again bruh. Quickly slapped a voltage divider on my breadboard setup and it started measuring distances flawlessly

Then came the final boss: the DC motors + the 12V power supply. I was genuinely sweating profusely doing this. I hooked up the massive 12V supply, held my breath, and kept my eyes absolutely glued to the multimeter screen checking the TB66112FNG outputs, making sure it wasn’t somehow dumping 12V straight into my 3V3 logic lines. But the power chain held up like a champ! I wrote a script to ramp up the PWM, and the motors spun up so aggressively the whole board almost flew off my desk lmao

The last two hours were basically just me pulling my hair out fixing stupid little bugs. Like whenever the motors would draw too much current on startup, the I2C screen would just randomly glitch out and freeze. Stared at my multimeter AGAIN watching the voltage dip on the rails, and finally realized I needed to add some way bigger decoupling caps to smooth out the spikes.

Honestly my brain is completely fried rn from staring at tiny wires for 5 hours, but EVERYTHING WORKS. All the GPIOs, the 12V power delivery, the sensors, everything. WTH I can actually build the robot now. Wait for the next update!!!

Reflow attempt 4

FIVE HOURS DUDE. I literally sat at my desk for 5 straight hours today but guys it was SO WORTH IT. After the absolute jankiness of attempt 3 where the board was hanging on by a thread at 2.35V with a missing pad, I decided I couldn’t live with that for my actual robotics controller. I needed a fresh, perfect board LMAO

The Reflow

I grabbed a brand new PCB, whipped out my flux and paste, and literally locked in. I was so insanely careful this time, taking my time with the hot air gun instead of rushing it. And guess what??? It came out SO CLEANLY. Like acc the cleanest SMD reflow I have ever done in my life. No sketchy solder bridges on the RT6150B, no ripped pads, nothing. I just went ahead and populated the entire board in one go—the AP62401, RT6150B, RP2040, the crystal, the flash, and the TB66112FNG motor drivers.
I plugged in the USB-C, and BOOM. Both the 5V and 3V3 indicator lights lit up super bright immediately. My computer detected the RP2040 instantly, and the micropython UF2 loaded on the first try. NO BOOTLOOPING AT ALL. I actually almost cried ngl.

The Assembly & Motors

Since the core was finally working flawlessly, I went ahead and fully assembled the rest of the board. It was time for the ultimate test: the actual robotics part. I hooked up my lipo battery and wired the DC motors to the TB66112FNG outputs
Wrote a quick test script in micropython to toggle the PWM signals to the motor driver, and guess what? IT WORKED FLAWLESSLY. The motors started spinning exactly how I programmed them to. The power supply was taking the battery voltage and feeding the motors like a champ

The Diodes snd the he Weird Bug

So the Sch smth diodes (Schottky) I added to the circuit actually worked perfectly!! They successfully allowed me to keep the board powered safely so I could code and test the motors at the exact same time without blowing up my laptop’s USB port lol
BUT here is the annoying part that took me forever to figure out………. for some reason, I couldn’t acc change or upload new code when BOTH the USB-C and the battery were plugged in at the same time. Like Thonny would just freeze and my laptop would refuse to save the script to the board. I was staring at my screen like WHYYYY????
I honestly think it might be some weird voltage conflict or the power switching slightly messing with the RP2040’s USB data lines?? I spent over an hour debugging it and checking my schematic, but honestly I just gave up cuz it’s not even a big deal. As long as I just unplug the battery when I need to flash new code, and then plug it back in to run the motors, it works perfectly fine lol
I am just so happy rn. After frying chips, shorting 5V to GND, endless bootloops, and dealing with ripped pads for weeks, Rukus is finally ALIVE and fully functional. Time to actually build the pocket robot chassis for this thing!! Wait for the next update

Reflow attempt 3

Alr after the endless bootlooping from attempt 2, I finally got it working but man it was a mess
So since the board was just rebooting non-stop last time, I thought maybe the RT6150 got internally cooked when I left those bridges on. So I decided to completely swap the regulator one last time using my hot air gun
I was trying to be careful but guess what??? A pad peeled off. I literally stared at it and thought my board was dead cuz usually a peeled pad means the entire PCB is just done for……..
I inspected the damage under the microscope and realized the pad that ripped off was VINA. I was like NOOO way this is gonna work now cuz it’s a power pin
But since I was already there I just soldered the new RT6150 on anyway, hoping the internal connections between VIN and VINA inside the chip would somehow save me lol
I plugged in the USB-C expecting it to fail………. but the 3V3 indicator light actually turned on???
I immediately grabbed my multimeter and tested the output. Instead of giving me the 3.3V I needed, it returned exactly 2.35V. I was so confused like why 2.35V??? It must be because the VINA pad is gone so the power chain is struggling
BUT HERE IS THE CRAZY PART. I plugged it into my laptop, and the RP2040 POPPED UP on my screen! AND IT DIDN’T BOOTLOOP!!!!
Like how in the world is it working???? Turns out 2.35V is acc lucky enough to be within the bare minimum operating voltage for the RP2040 and the flash memory to communicate without dying lol!!! It’s literally hanging on by a thread but it transfers data and micropython acc runs!
I am just so glad right now ngl, like the amount of stress this power delivery gave me was insane. Even tho it’s running on 2.35V and one pad is completely gone, the core functionality is finally there and I don’t have to sacrifice another RP2040
Imma probably just tape it down and never touch that part of the board again lol, wait for the next update
*** You can see how the LED at the bottom right is very dim

Reflow Attempt 3

LETS GOOOOOOOOO it finally works bruh I could actually cry right now…….

• So after I went to bed at 2AM feeling absolutely defeated, I woke up today and just stared at the dead board for like 20 mins. I realized when I swapped the RP2040 last night in my sleep-deprived state, I probably completely messed up the QFN ground pad under the chip cuz I was so tired and rushed it, which is why the whole thing just gave up on life and killed the 3V3
• Wipped out the flux and my hot air gun, and gave the MCU one last reflow. Was extremely careful this time and didn’t even touch my soldering iron cuz I learned my lesson from frying the USB-C port lol
• Plugged it in, and BOOM both the 5V and 3V3 indicator lights lit up immediately!!! The relief I felt seeing that 3V3 light come back from the dead was insane. BUT I was still holding my breath bc of the flash issue from yesterday. I held down the BOOTSEL button, plugged the USB into my laptop, and just prayed to the hardware gods……
• AND IT POPPED UP ON MY COMPUTER!!! LIKE FINALLY. The BOOTSEL acc works and it communicates with the flash perfectly now. I immediately dragged the micropython uf2 file in and it loaded flawlessly without any sketchy disconnects. But the absolute best part is I finally got to test the e-ink screen. Hooked it up, wrote a quick test script in micropython, and watching that e-ink display actually refresh and show my stuff gave me an ungodly amount of serotonin. The chess card is finally alive!!!
  Moral of the story :) never solder tiny chips at 2AM when ur brain is fried. I’m so happy rn lol like WTH

Final Stage (Hopefully the last devlog)

Alr after reflowing the board and roughly validated the GPIOs, it’s time to test if the SD card and the screen can acc communicate with my RP2040!!!

• Well i already tested writing in and reading data from the SD card, so im not quite worried about it (acc i was lol cuz idk why it sometimes just didnt detect my SD card……..damn it
• The next was the screen, this time i tested out all the screen module pins using a while loop to turn them on and off and measured them one by one using my multimeter. And i was acc thinking if i should use a pin socket to simply plug in the screen or solder the screen directly on the board lol
• I then decided to solder the screen directly on the board cuz how i confident i was…….like the GPIOs were all working flawlessly + the SD card was reading…….i didn’t think there was really any chance to fail ngl
• And here’s the funny part, after I soldered the board and loaded the game emulator, i then realized how the screen was upside down, like i didn’t even notice it when I prototyped……
• But ofc this wasnt gonna stop me from progressing cuz i believe this could def be fixed using software, like this was obviously like a software issue ngl. So then I started to inspect the code and fnially found a place where it showed where to start updating the screen. Orginally it started from the top, then ofc i changed it so that it started from the bottom and ended at the top!!
  AND GUESS WHATTT THE GAME RAN FLAWLESSLY!!!! Like dude the moment when I could select the game and play every game i wanted? THAT WAS SOOO PEAK!!! Just check out how I run Kirby

Reflow Attempt 2

AHHHHH this is genuinely killing me…….it took me almost 4 hours to reflow the board + debugging

• Reflowed the entire chess card, and somehow the both the 5V and 3V3 indicator lights didn’t light up, which was extremely frustrating……
• Initially, I thought it was bc of the USB-C port cuz I kept wiping it with my 300 degree celcius soldering iron to fix the bridges (we dont talk abt that lol). So then I decided to swap out the port, which then I realized how it still didnt fix the issue
• Well i then measured the resistance between the 5V and GND, which then i noticed how the value was suspiciously low, like nearly 0 ohm (obviously it’s short circuited!!!!
• I immediately doubt if it was bc of the RT6150 cuz it’s the only IC that bridges 5V and GND other than the USB-C. I reflowed the RT6150 chip again, and BINGO the 5V indicator light turned on!
• BUT here’s another issue……..why in the world is 3V3 not lighting up??? LIKE WHYYY I literally reflowed the buck regulator again. This issue took me over an hour to deal with cuz I immediately tested the resistance between 3V3 and GND, but nope the resistance was very normal like very high…….so then I went back and stared at my board again and started to think it might bc i accidentally burnt the RT6150 when i shortcircuited the 5V
• I swapped out the RT6150 with a new one (NOOOOOO only 4 left, very low in inventory), and guess what it finally started to kinda work, like the 3V3 light turned on. BUT BUT BUT the BOOTSEL IS DEAD like it doesnt communicate with my flash
• Usually if the 3V3 didnt even turn on means the shortcircuit didnt even acc get out of the regulator, so the flash shouldnt be an issue……..now i turned to my RP2040 and thought it might be bc of the MCU…….I reflowed the chip again but bruh same shit happened
• I then swapped out the RP2040 with a new one (I mean I still have quite a bit inventory so why not lol). BUT the board became fudging dead, like acc DEAD…….the 3V3 indicator light no longer turned on
  It’s already 2AM and I’m devastated………lemme probly take some rest before giving it another shot

Reflow Attempt 2

NOOO I forgot that I routed all my ICs on the back plate, so my stencil didn’t even work cuz i forgot to order it to match the back plate. ANYWAY I still reflowed the board using my choppy pasting technique and guess what? It worksss!!!
Actually before powering up for the first time I didn’t even notice that the 5V and 0V are shorted, and I was so glad that I found out using my multimeter lol. So then I hot aired the RT6150B and boomed it fixed the short circuit which was a huge W
Before powering up, i tested the 5V, 3V3 and 0V again, and as i expected the both power indicator lights turned on and the board could now communicate with my computer! I then immediately tested it by uploading a random uF2 file and it works very well
But just in case I then loaded micropython and tested all the GPIO pins and more importantly the SD card slot. Initially it just somehow didn’t work and i almost thought i was about to fail but NO it WORKED! It could communicate with my SD card and write and read data which was very huge
At last i soldered the screen module and all the buttons after confirming all the GPIOs could turn on as expected
Anyways I still have to figure out the software to match this game console, but we’ll see how this goes!!

Reflowed Attempt 2

YAYYY LET’S GOOO!!! After just one hour of reflow process + repair my board works flawlessly! Let me reiterate this again, this board has 4 times more capacity than the previous one, it has 4 times more flash storage (8 MB) and allows up to 800mA of current, which is very plenty for any peripherals :)
This is a huge success and the GPIOs are very much working!!! Just see how much I have to say for this board, like it’s sooo clean and aesthetic (just look at the purple silkscreen lol

Reflow Attempt 1!!

I actually only spent an hour populating the board + reflowing, and it worked perfectly at which was out of my surprise. I loaded the uf2 file and ran print(“Hello World”) and it did its job! BUT then for some reason the 3V3 indicator light shut down after I heard a little crack from the USB-C port………and suddenly everything just stopped working and no longer responding to my computer anymore……..IT WAS DEVASTATING

Here’s how I tried to fix it

• Wiped the MCU, USB-C, and the flash with soldering iron again but nothing helped
• Replaced the inductor cuz it might saturate and allow too much current flowing through
• Swapped out USB-C cuz not even the 5V indicator was lighting up for some reason (which I shouldve tested the resistance first……..
• Replaced the RT6150B cuz i really had no idea what was going on……..like the regulator might really be the biggest suspect ngl
  At last I removed the RP2040 and the flash to test the resistance again, the resistance was still normal like greater than 100K, but the 3V3 just kept returning 0.04V (bruh what
  *** It was already 2am so i needed to go to sleep, I’ll update once the new board is done……

Reflow attempt 2!!

After waiting for another two weeks I finally received the new PCBs and yes there was some significant progress but also it’s still not fully functional

What works

• Instead of reflowing the entire board, I decided to play safe and only reflowed the AP62401. This confirms if my board can actually turn 12V into 5V, and if it can acc feed it into the next stage (which is the RT6150B)
• At first I forgot to solder the two 22uF caps, which prevented the output from correctly providing a stable 5V. But then ofc I populated the two big caps, and it turned out 4.7V, which was close enough for the RT6150P!!!
• Then I decided to populate the entire board including the RT6150B and all the other ICs including RP2040, crystal, TB66112FNG, and USB-C
• At first the 3V3 indicator light didn’t turn on till I realized how i didn’t wipe out the bridges on the RT6150 (almost burnt it damnn). Finally RT6150 didn’t betray me lol, it gave out 3.18V to the RP2040 which ig enough for the RP2040 to run

What failed

• Even tho my laptop successfully detected my RP2040 and could somehow transfer data (?) it just kept rebooting no matter what
• I tried to fix it by reflowing the flash again and thought it might help but NOPE. Then I swapped out the flash and replaced it with a new one and it FAILED AGAIN. I then reflowed the crystal again to make sure it’s not because the clocking issue but guess what NOPE. Then I swapped out with a working one but still the issue remained……….
• I really dont think it’s cuz of the RP2040 but just in case I still reflowed it but bruh I don wanna sacrifice my thing again

Conclusion

The issue might because somehow the parts were burnt because of my initial mistake whne i frogot to clean up the bridges on the RT6150 (which i truly doubt). I mean the 3.3V indicator light didn’t even light up, which shows how the short circuit might only happened internally in the regulator rather than dumping excessive voltage……….
Anyways Imma try again these days, wait for the next update

LOCKING IN for another 2 hours!!
Here’s what I did

• Fixed the same power supply route for the board
• Rerouted GPIO traces to accommodate more space for 0.1uF caps
• Moved GPIO traces from the back to the top so that the back layer is cleaner
• Replaced 0603 LEDs with 0402
  Basically I was just optimizing everything even very tiny details, I wanna make sure this version delievers the best quality possible
  Then I just gotta wait for the next 10 days to finally get the board…….(see me in the next devlog ig
  Btw I also rerendered the board it mimght not seem to change alot but it did

After learning so much about impedence I finally implemented signal integrity
This is board is very messy both electrically and signally and the reason is bc of how it’s a 2-layer board and signal lines and buck converters are all on the same GND
I was playing around with the calculator and redrawing traces in kicad while watchin videos from Phill’s lab and this really helped me alot while implementing the signal lines D+ and D-
Next up I’ll reroute everything like all the GPIOs cuz they will be used for SPI and thus the lengths and widths are all very important

WHAAAAAAT THREE HOURS?? Literally just looked at the clock and realized how much time accidentally passed. I swear PCB routing is a literal time machine. Anyway, here’s the rundown of what I actually got done while zoning out:

• Fixing the Power Island… AGAIN: I am genuinely losing my mind over this power section. This is officially the 5th or 6th time I’ve had to rip up and redo the power island (see the image below). After all the drama with the 5V and 3V3 lines shorting out and frying my regulators in the last reflow attempt, I’m taking zero chances. Redid the traces, made sure the copper pours for GND and VCC aren’t doing anything sketchy, and optimized the placement so the power delivery to the RP2040 and the flash is actually stable this time. I see these traces in my sleep now lol.

• Audio Implementation (MAX98357A): Finally got around to the audio side of things! Hooked up the MAX98357A Class-D amp on a breadboard/prototype setup. Since it takes I2S, I had to make sure the data, bit clock, and word select lines from the MCU were playing nice. It’s pretty sick seeing (and hearing) it actually process the digital audio without too much static.

• Battery & Charging Circuit: Slapped the battery and charging IC onto the schematic so this thing can actually be a proper portable device. Had to double-check the load sharing so the board doesn’t try to pull power straight from the battery while it’s plugged in via USB-C (really trying to avoid blowing up another USB port or regulator).

Spent just a little time fixing some bugs cuz I accidentally swapped the order of the LEDs pin assignemnt and the NEXT button so it glitched during the gameplay
Anyway I also cleaned up the repo and ready to ship!!

Added the AI feature!!! THIS IS SOOOOO COOL
i implemented the Minimax algorithm (which is a recursive algorithm for choosing the next move mostly in two-player) game from this github repo
But I also faced some issues like the AI program would occupy the entire MCU’s thread and it took a very long time and halted the waiting animation i was trying to add
But then i discvoered the alpha beta pruning which was meant to optimize the algorithm, and it really sped up the entire process alot especially how it reduced lots of workload and steps

HOHOHOHO after tons of trials and errors Im ready to order the board for the 4th time!!!
I fixed a bunch of stuff (alr just look at the following):

• Changed caps to 1206
• COnnected STBY (what an upgrade huh you can finally turn on or off the motor driver!?
• Added another copper pour for VBUS
  I ran DRC for everything im abt to order again and rerendered the perfect demo lol
  LETS HOPE THIS WE MAKE THE SHOT cuz bruh if we dont i have nothign else to say…….

Sooooo spent some time today just ripping up the board again…
Finally decided to completely ditch the RT6154A and replaced it with the RT6150B cuz honestly I’m just so done with it lol. Rerouted so many things especially the power supply (yes again….)
Also decided to replace the TF card slot with a way cheaper one cuz apparently the old one I picked was just insanely overpriced and literally just not worth that much money bruh
Oh and I also went ahead and added a fat 3.3V copper plane right under the tf card socket, supposedly for better and more stable power supply cuz we really dont want the sd card to randomly drop connection when loading stuff

I realized a crucial mistake again lol and that is the schottky diode I picked could only withstand no more than 1A so RT6154A is basically wayyy too overkill and not even necessary ngl
But anyway i switched it to RT6150B and hopefully it works lol bruh i was already truly traumatized

Spent some time adding the radio (nrf24l01) but WHY DOES IT LOOK SOOOOO CHOPPED
ngl it genuinely looks like frankenstein lol
Anyways I havent acc finished routing it but I willll
Im also planning to order the two versions so that I can know if it’s actually bc of the radio that causes issues

Fixed the RT6154A by diconnecting the VINA and VIN, i mean it’s acc the same fix as the RP2040 devboard so dont be surprised if they look the same lol
Btw I also tried the optimize the power route even more cuz of how FB resistors should be closer to the IC
Now let’s hope it’s acc rock solid

Another huge update!!
I didnt acc reflow the board cuz it wouldnt work anyway lol
I spent some time fixing RT6154A connection cuz I previously connected VIN to VINA directly which would short-circuit the entire thing
And I also changed the GPIO24 resistor’s angle to allow 100nF cap to be closer to 3V3
Let’s hope this will work perfectly this time………

Fixed the schematic and footprint!!
This time im finally using RT6150B and not smth else lol

• Imported symbol and footprint
• Rerouted power supply chain (easier than I thought)
• Ran DRC

FUDGE I TRIED FOUR TIMES!!! AND BURNT ALL MY RT6154A and 47uF caps
Heres the results for each attempt
1st –> the regulator smoked but suddenly the 3.3V LED blinked!!! I really thought it started working bruh………but then my computer just couldnt access any files
2nd –> I moved most of the parts from the 1st one to this, and somehow 5V were not even responding??
3rd –> this time i focused on the power block only and it correctly produced 3.3V which made me think the power block isnt the issue
4th –> reflowed the entire thing again and 3.3V and GND are shorted till i removed the RP2040
And guess wat i realized my mistakes……rpi pico was using RT6150 not the overkilled RT6154 (DUDE WAT
Alr imma redesign the power again even tho I still plan to use it for my devboard lol but for this case imma use RT6150B instead

SIX HOURS DUDE. Literally six hours of my life just gone and my eyes are actually bleeding from staring at my microscope……

Well I reflowed my first board today, and I thought everything went pretty well until I plugged the USB-C in and saw actual magic smoke. The RT6154A literally burnt?? Like legit puffed smoke, got insanely hot, and just died right in front of me

OMG dude im wondering what i did wrong bruh……. I was so scared I somehow sent 5V straight into the RP2040 and fried my whole MCU cluster

For like two hours I just sat there staring at my schematic in KiCad trying to find a fatal design flaw. I even started panicking and overthinking the power circuit, thinking I messed up by not adding an external trace between the VINA and VIN pins on the regulator. I was literally about to rip up the whole layout again until my brain finally started working and I remembered wait NO they are already internally connected on the 6154 so that definitely wasn’t the reason it exploded……

So then I grabbed my multimeter and started checking the resistance everywhere. Obviously the burnt regulator was completely shorted between VOUT and GND, but when I took it off I also found some super sketchy solder balls hiding under the tiny decoupling caps next to it.

It took me another two hours just to desolder the dead RT6154A with my hot air gun and clean up the pads with solder wick. I swear I kept wiping the pads with my iron and almost ripped a pad off cuz my hands were shaking so bad from the stress lol (we definitely don’t talk about how messy the board looks right now)

Honestly at this point I’m just convincing myself it was a massive short circuit under the IC from my choppy solder pasting technique. Like I probably just put way too much paste on the center ground pad and it squeezed out and bridged everything. Let’s hope it’s just simply my reflowing error and nothign more complicated than that……like if it’s a fundamental routing issue I am actually gonna cry

It’s way too late rn and my brain is completely fried from inhaling flux fumes. Imma just scrap this messy board, take some rest, and reflow another board tomorrow with brand new parts and we’ll see how it goes. Literally praying to the hardware gods that it doesn’t end in actual fire this time lol

Another huge progress! I reflowed another screen module and it just worked lol
Btw I also quickly prototyped the chess board and here’s how it looks!!
** I really thought my breakout module wouldnt work cuz this is my first time doing it, probly I just got lucky lol

OMG I couldnt believe it acc worked!!!
Imagine adding ur own antenna and put everything togethr and it just magically worked!?
THIS IS INSANE, check out the video to see how it replaces my original setup
Btw next up, combine nrf24l01 with the robotic module!!

Nooooo I accidentally pealed off the solder pad when I almost finished soldering everything…….
Imagine spending all this time getting nothing…….? AHHHH
Nvm imma solder another one tmr (look at how the little diode is flying everywhere bruh

OOOOOOO FINALLY FINISHED REFLOWING ANOTHER BOARD!!!
This time it works perfectly well, both the game and the NFC
Now ive confirmed the hardware runs perfectly, i will start focusing on the software
To be added:

• Little tic tac toe AI
• Optimize the code by removing all global variables (bruh i sucked at coding

Finally got the board!!
Spent some time reflowing it (it’s acc my second time doing SMD reflowing) and it acc went pretty well till I realized the board wouldnt allow me to transfer data, which I doubt was bc of the following
Design issue -> I used 330K + 680K for RT6154AGQW feedback loop instead of using 1.02M properly
Reflowing issue -> I accidentally pealed off an output cap for RT6154AGQW and it might cause more voltage spikes for the 3.3V

Spent 2 hours reflowing the entire board!! It almost works 100% but i messed up the USB port……I think I migth have accidentally melted the plastic contact in the port when hot airing it
I thought the shield pins should be soldered using soldering iron, till i realized how most people used solder paste, but it’s already too late cuz its nearly impossible to melt my high temp solder

Another huge breakthrough!! my NFC works flawlessly on my iphone 14 and another android phone!!!
But idk why my mom’s iphone 15 doesnt respond at all (i think it might be her problem lol)
Anyway i really thought reflowing it without stencils would be tough but acc it was not at all lol

OOOOOOOO guess what I finally got to reflow my nrf24l01 module!! And at the start it couldnt really communicate cuz of a bridge between two pins (i forgot what they were) but then i figured out using my super sharp eyes and unbridged them using my PINECILLLLL
I also spent alot of time fixing the layout which then I realized how 10uF input caps dont need to be 1206……..(wat a waste of time/space bruh :(
But amyways a huge success in the radio module even tho I still need to test out if it can acc blast out and receive messages……..

Ok just made a couple more changes before ordering the board

• Rearranged the TP pads to reduce clusters
• Added a 0.1uF cap near the motor control pins
• Added a couple more copper planes for VBUS and VSYS

WOOOOO made a couple big changes!!

• Replaced the big expensive inductor for RT6154AGQW with a 1206
• Fixed TONS OF LAYOUT ISSUE, such as inductor placement, capacitor placements for buck convertors etc
• Added 12V and VBUS copper plane (new skill GET
• Redrew many traces such as Aout1/2 with much thicker ones (1mm)
  And now the entire thing looks much much much solid ig :)

Rendered this beautiful demo!!!
Cuz the PCB itself is actually kinda chopped so I gotta rendered this demo myself lol
On top of that I also published the files to github hope you guys like it

Spent some time doing the following:

• Added a pull-up resistor for PSYNC
• Added TP pad for PGOOD
• Ran DRC, fixed the pinheader connector
• Ordered the board
  *** btw I gained this time yesterday but I was just too busy to devlog

Just spent an hour doing the following

• Added TP pads (just in case RT6154AGQW fails again)
• Somehow managed to prevent the copper island
• Ordered the board after cleaning up DRC

FINALLY FINISHED ROUTING + DRC CHECK!!
I also rendered this to showcase lol
Routing this time was kinda easy and I really love how straightforward the hardware is, but I think the challenge might be mainly the software side DAMN

YOOO making some quick progress today, literally just sat down for 2 hours and knocked out almost the entire routing bruh!!!

Routing the board: Honestly this was actually much easier than I thought it was gonna be…….. probly cuz there are barely any crazy peripherals to worry about on this board except for the SPI lines. Way less of a headache compared to routing all those shorted power islands from last time lol

Button swap: I also completely ripped out the old buttons and replaced them with the exact same ones I used for my interactive tic-tac-toe business card! Those had a pretty solid tactile feel, so I’m really hoping they work much better for an actual handheld game console layout lol

Just a quick 2 hour grind but we are getting insanely close to finishing this board bruh

YOOO spent almost an hour and a half just straight up routing the RP2040 cluster today and my eyes are only slightly bleeding this time lol

Honestly this session was actually pretty easy cuz there’s barely any crazy peripherals to route on this part of the board. Like way less of a headache compared to ripping up those stupid power islands and shorting out regulators like I usually do bruh

The main focus was definitely just getting the screen connector perfectly wired up rather than anything else. Basically just locked in on making sure all the lines for the display are routed super clean so it actually communicates with the MCU and doesn’t just give me a blank white screen of death when I plug it in

Spent an hour organizing the crystal cluster cuz it looked kinda ugly and too close to each other which made them kinda hard to solder……anyways here’s the new result

After the failure, just in case it’s bc of any design issue here’s a couple changes I made:

• Removed RUN by simply crossing it out
• Replaced 10uF cap for AP62401WU with ceramic cap
• Removed PSYNC as it occupies GPOI23 and I just wanna get it work so bascially removed some complexity
• Added a couple TP pads just to make sure i wont blow anything up again when testing lol

Just a couple things I did
Finalized the schematic: literally finally locked in the entire schematic…. double and triple checked all the pins, the SPI lines, and the power delivery so hopefully I dont end up shorting out another regulator or blowing up my USB port again lol

Designed the card size: decided to actually lock in the physical dimensions of the board today. Went with a super sleek card size so it actually feels like a legit, highly portable device instead of just being some giant clunky dev board. It’s gonna look so clean.

Positioned the PCB components: started dragging all the footprints onto the board and positioning them… trying to squeeze the RP2040, the flash chip, the screen connector, and all those tiny annoying capacitors into this tiny card size area is literally a giant puzzle bruh. But I finally got the main clusters placed perfectly!

Actually feeling pretty good about the layout so far. Routing all these traces next is probably gonna be a literal nightmare in KiCad but we are getting there!

GUYSSS I finally got my boards and gave the very first shot!
I gotta be honest popularizing the board is the most boring process, and it took me almost 1 and a half hour……And after spending almost one more hour of repairing I FAILED TRAGICALLY
But anyway here’s the result (look at the picture below
***Note that the hours were recorded the day before but now I finally have time to devlog

Updated my readme and release and ready to ship for the new system!! (btw i just realized that I forgot to post devlog after getting this 1 hour so don be surprised by how I get this hour so fast

Spent some time updating readme and release!!
This is really the best project i’ve ever made, even though it might look a little intimidating!!!!
*** Btw i also rendered this, and this is exactly how the final product will look like

Finished and ordered my custom radio module!

• Cleaned up DRC (pls ignore lots of clearance issues as it was simply bc of the custom antenna
• Sorted out BOM
• Added tons of vias
• Removed solder mask (acc i wanted to test out both with and without solder mask
• Submitted my order
• Rendered the custom board

Spent some time on routing the my radio PCB, checking DRC, and re-arranging the layout
*** Damnn I just realized that I shouldn’t switch 0402 components to 0603 cuz the radio might somehow be detuned……..

Alr just created the bom file and added everything to the cart
Btw I also decided to include all color LEDs just in case lol
On top of that, I also sorted all the parts for my RP2040 custom devboard

3 hours!? DAMNN lapse was kinda tripping when I was working and I thouht it was only 45 minutes……..(no wonder why it felt like forever :)
Anyways here’s what I did

• Reread the document for the NFC chip and realized that a 220nF cap is required
• Polished the PCB layout. including replacing 0.1uF with 1uF for 3V3 and 1V1
• Updated Readme and Created new release
• Re-rendered the new front layer pcb
• Ordered PCB

Alright it’s finally time to order the PCB!!!

This time I literally decided to just print the board double sided, while trying to make the stencils as small as physically possible so it doesnt take up so much space on my desk
Something crazy i noticed tho was that getting both top&bottom stencils didnt acc cost any more than just doing the single top side??? like bruh what so why nott might as well just get both lol

On top of all that headache I finally added all the components to my cart and they’re literally sitting there ready to order rn! Just hoping I didn’t forget any stupid little resistors or smth

Lets goooo just praying everything actually works when they arrive and I don’t have to do another 4 hour reflow debugging session lmao

Here’s wat I did for the past 1.5 hours

• Updated README and Release
• Rerendered PCB
• Cleaned up DRC and replaced 0.1 uF with 1 uF for 3V3 and 1V1 according to RP2040 hardware design
• Added more vias

Alr finally routing everything!!! Time to do some massive clean up and ready to export and order the gerber!!

• RP2040 cluster: routed all the crazy traces for the MCU cluster… making sure all the decoupling caps are actually close enough this time so the chip doesnt just randomly die on me lol
• SD card: finished the lines for the sd card slot with that new 3.3V plane we talked abt, should be super solid now to load up the games without dropping connection
• Screen pin holes: placed all the through holes for the display so it actually sits right and flush on the board
• Including all buttons from the original gameboy: YESSS included literally all the buttons from the og gameboy layout!! D-pad, A, B, start, select… routing the traces for the pads wasn’t too bad but getting the placement perfectly right so it actually feels like a proper handheld console took forever bruh

Just gonna run DRC in KiCad one last time to make sure there are no sketchy shorts and send it to fab… literally pray for me that I didn’t mess up any stupid footprints again lol

Almost done routing the entire PCB!! literally just stared at my screen for hours but now I only have like 10 traces left to route and I’m basically finished bruh

*** Oh yea I also just completely removed the RUN pin/button cuz honestly I don really mind just unplugging the game console to reset it lol. Like it saves so much space and routing headache on the board so why nott

Just gonna knock out these last few lines in KiCad and we are finally good to gooooo

YOOO making some serious progress tonight!!! Basically just locked in and finished routing a bunch of the main sections and my eyes are literally bleeding rn lol

• Flash Storage: routed all the lines connecting the RP2040 to the flash chip….. honestly just trying to keep the traces as short and clean as possible so the BOOTSEL actually works this time and it doesnt just drop connection when reading memory
• Power Supply: FINALLY got the power section fully routed with the new RT6150B setup!!! double checked the copper pours and the 3V3/5V lines so hopefully we dont get any more crazy short circuits and blown regulators like last time bruh
• Buttons (except the start and select): Got the D-pad and the A/B buttons all wired up and placed perfectly!!! Kinda just skipped over the start and select buttons for now cuz I honestly cant figure out where to squeeze them in yet without messing up my other traces lol I’ll just deal with them later
• SD cards: finished routing the new cheaper TF card slot along with that fat 3.3V plane we added underneath it…… it better be super stable now for loading games

Getting so close to being done with this board I can actually taste it……. just gotta figure out those last two buttons and we are chilling

Finished prototyping using my RP2040 custom devboard!!!
This basically validates my design for the PCB as it uses the exact same parts except different PWM pins
*** Note that I haven’t added nrf24l01 in my design as radio is very unpredicatable

HUGE progress!! literally just sat down and grinded for the past two hours and got so much done bruh here’s what i did

• Positioned most parts: finally got around to placing almost everything on the board… well except for some of the tiny annoying resistors and capacitors cuz my brain is honestly too fried to squeeze them in rn lol i’ll just deal with them later
• Removed Bootsel and reset buttons with a connector: so I just completely ripped out the physical Bootsel and reset buttons and swapped them out for a connector instead!!! honestly taking them off the main board saves so much precious space and routing headache so why nott
• Added pull-up resistors and caps: also went in and added all the necessary pull-up resistors and decoupling caps…. just making sure the signals are actually stable so the RP2040 doesnt randomly freak out on me and drop connection like last time lmao

Literally getting so close to finishing the layout I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel… just gotta place those last few tiny components and we are golden

YAYYYYYY this time I prototyped on my RP2040 devboard and DRV8833 even tho I gotta use an Arduino Uno for power supply. I tried to power L298N from my custom board but it didn’t work cuz the current spikes are crazyyyyy. But anyways huge success, next up imma connect it to my radio nrf24l01 and see how it goes

DAMNNN spent so much time on fixing this island…….I tried my best but still had to compromise many traces for the big flash storage

Just added some personal touch

• Added back silkscreen
• Picked purple as the main color
• Began picking up parts from LCSC
  *** Im really trying my best to polish this as much as possible lol

Alr time to wrap this up, I cleaned up all the routing and here were some changes i made:

• Moved the diode to the top right corner instead of clamping with the power regulator
• Moved as many routes to the front as possible to keep the back copper as clean as possible
• Added thicker traces 0.5mm
• Removed two islands on the back copper (it’s sacred!!!)
• Cleaned up the DRC once again

Finally finished routing the entire board and cleaned up the DRC!!
***Imma just add some more final touch before ordering the boards (like cleaning up the silkscreen

Here are some of the things I noticed

• An unwanted island on the back (directly under the flash storage)
• Unconnected GND due to very tight layout
  *** BTW I kinda regret of not switching to 4-layer board…..DAMNNN (but it’s also more expensive so we’ll see lol

Well well well guys this is getting frustrating, how in the world does my SD card module doens’t match those on github………HOWWWWWWW

Just finished routing the RP2040 and most of the stuff!!
** There really isnt too much abt routing just trial and errors ig

Assigned footprints and began routing the PCB!!!
Since this is the very first prototype, I’ll use the screen module and very simple buttons
Btw I also decided to use the 16MB flash storage! Why? Just in case lol

Finished routing the left area, btw I also applied what Ive learned for the past few weeks

• Boot button can easily be routed to a long trace cuz it has very low frequency
• Added tons of wide traces to 3V3 (like 0.5mm if possible or else 0.3mm)
  I mean it’s routing dont really have anything to say lol

Completed routing flash storage and 1uF caps

• The two 1uF caps need to be very close to pin 44 and 45
• This flash storage is much larger than the original one (but it has 4x more storage sooooo :)
• Increased the width of the data lines (idk i heard it’s better lol

Finished routing the power supply parts!!! It was acc much smoother than I thought cuz of the layout ig

AHHHHHHH this is getting kinda frustrating……….
Now I have two options for the charging IC

• MCP73831 (fits better but then I gotta deal with unwanted dicharging and battery protection)
• MCP73871 (very overkill, very unnecessary)

Selected the battery and its associated parts:

• MCP73831 (the charging IC)
• LIR2450 (the battery)
• Keystone 3008 (battery holder)
  *** Still looking for battery protection IC

Assigned footprints (replaced many 0402 with 0603 and 0805) and roughly placed the layout

Completed the schematic!!!
Updated areas:

• Replaced W25Q16JVUXIQ (2MB) with W25Q64JVXGIQ (8MB a huge upgrade :)
• Replaced MCP1700x-330xxTT (linear regulator) with RT6154AGQW (buck converter much more efficient)
• Added Schottky Diode to allow external power supply
• Added a RESET button
• Changed 33pF crystal cap to 15pF to match the crystal I ordered
  Now my custom devboard will become much more powerful and resilient

Routed everything and added some final touch!!

Huge success!!! I finally made two custom RP2040 boards communicate with each other through nrf24l01, and next up imma wires them to my custom board

Just tested out the transmitter, while testing out my RP2040 custom devboard!!! (huge success)
Pins:

• CSN: GP12
• MOSI: GP7
• CE: GP11
• SCK: GP6
• MISO: GP4

Finally finished the schematic!!! Here’s some changes I made

• Upgraded flash storage from 2MB to 16MB
• Pull-up every pin for SD card
• Removed external power-supply cluster
  *** Note that I’ll add battery in V2 but for now let’s just focus on the core functionality

Tested out circuits on Arduino UNO + L298N first!!! Imma try out RP2040 and TB6612 later

Spent some time soldering all the components for prototyping

• RP2040 board (I made it myself!!! :)
• nrf24l01
• TB6612

DAMNNNN I just picked all the parts manually……guys MANUALLY
IT TOOK ME SO MUCH TIME (look at the price :( SO EXPENSIVE
*** BTW I also discovered how I accidentally used 0603 for a 10uF cap, but we got solutions lol

Working on SD schematic and learning SD to SPI translation so that my RP2040 could read games from SD card
*** I didn’t even know there was translation between SD and SPI, so I spent so much time figuring out

Roughly finished the schematic for the game boy console!!!

• RP2040
• USB-C + RT6154AGQW
• LCD Screen

Added NFC feature and imported the footprints!!!

Roughly finished the schematic!!!

• RP2040 cluster
• NFC
• E-paper Screen
• nrf24l01 (not added yet

DAMNNNNNNNN I MESSED UP THE SCHEMATIC!!!! SO I gotta spend the past hour rerouting everything especially for some reason my schematic and PCB layout disconnected :(
Anyway here’s the final result!!!

Finally completed the routing for the entire screen module!!! getting all those display traces to line up perfectly without messing up the rest of the board was honestly kinda annoying but we got it done lol

btw I also rendered this beauty in KiCad so you guys can acc see what the final board is supposed to look like!! literally so hyped for this to be real

For the past hour I was assigning footprints for all the parts, it took me a while because they also needed to be found in LCSC. I was dealing with some issues as I kept changing the size of the inductor, i went from 0402 to 0603 to 0805 (which i believe was enough)
I also encountered some capacitor issues, like i accidentally connected Pin 1 to Pin 3 which i have no idea how i did that lol
Anyway let’s get start routing our first screen module!!!

YAyyyyyy this time the layout isn’t too bad lol
Just spent an hour figuring out the layout and trying to connect everything

Damn I kinda messed up the reference number and the parts………I didn’t know that I needed to use 0402 lol
Anyways we can finally get into PCB layout and routing!!!

OOOOOOOO finally got to the most exciting part cuz guys radio is very sensitive to any changes!!!
But anyways WE GOT THIS lol
Btw i also picked the cyrstal (YXC Crystal Oscillators X49SD16MSD2SC) from LCSC let’s hope it works

Finished the schematic for the custom nRF24L01 module!!! YAYYYYY

DAMNNNNN easyeda cannot export to kicad for some reason………So I gotta draw a new one myself. Anyways after spending some time here’s the beautiful result

Finally copied RF antenna from the datasheet!!! It was kinda a hassle lol

Spent an hour on designing the schematic for the radio!! Im going build radio module first

Here’s a couple things I changed before moving on to nrf24l01 radio

• Changed 0603 47uF capacitors to 1206 so that it can handle 25V spikes
• Rerouted everything around the two capacitors
• Double checked the schematic and cleaned up the layout

After struggling for 2 hours, finally replaced the two inductors with 4mm x 4mm one!!!
*** You’ll see how much I struggled in lapse lol

NOOOOOOOOO I just noticed that I picked the wrong inductors……….I accidentally picked the 0201 one and that doenst allow enough current (like nowhere close)
*** Look at the highlighted part

Let’s begin our journey towards the chess card!! Well first of all the most important thing here is the screen

• Drew the schematic for the screen module
• Imported symbols from EasyEDA
• Picked FPC-05FB-24PH20

Spent almost an hour updating Readme and planning out V2!!!
Here are some improvements im going to make:

• Larger flash storage (16mb preferably)
• Add two Schottky Diode to allow external power supply
• Replace the original voltage regulator with RT6154AGQW
• Add a reset button
• Increase the resistance of LEDs (my eyes bruh
  *** Look at the highlighted parts and btw I also decided to REROUTE EVERYTHING

WOOOO I spent so much time on fixing and rerouting AP62401WU……

• Added a Schottky diode to prevent current from leaking back feeding to AP62401WU
• Changed the placements of AP62401WU output capacitors as they may generate tons of voltage ripples and malfunction other delicate ICs (look at the highlighted components)

Tested out my XOR gate (the first version) but unfortunately it didn’t work as well as expected

• 4.7k ohm for base resistors
• 1k ohm for pull-up
  *** I did this 2 days ago but I just forgot to log it

Here’s the video demo of my working macropad

After 2 hours of struggle, finally FINISHED THE PROTOTYPE

• SDcard breakout module is now connected and running (I stored Pokemon red version)
• Screen can now display what is inside the sd card
• Users can now press button A (GPIO 7) to enter the game

Tested out all the functions, updated repo/README and rendered this

• Added a professional Release page
• Formatted my README in the way how I did for all the other projects
  *** Btw dont be surprise how I got these 2 hours right after my previous devlog (simply cuz I forgot to log this a month ago lol

the image in the previous devlog is not showing, but it’s fine after doing some tuning and modification to the NFC here’s the beautiful result
*** IDK why the images in the last devlog aren’t showing

Added some design to the front silkscreen!! And I also rendered the board in blender

I spent an hour fixing the NFC and I finally found out the reason!! I FORGOT TO CONNECT THE OTHER ROUTE, that’s simply why lol

GUESS WHAT I began to build V2!!!
This is what im gonna be focusing on

• Fix NFC feature
• Add coin cell battery
• Better Design on both front and back
  btw I spent an hour doing research on how to add battery and learning figma lol

Well well well for the past two hours I was designing my nrf24l01 antenna and trying to implement it into my design
I thought I couldve just imported other people’s designs but HELL NAH
Here are a couple options that I can refer to tho

• AN043
• AN2731
• AN91445
  But ofc i lean towards the first one and im probly gonna copy that too lol

Alr last devlog before ordering!!
Double checked everything including adding more vias and ran DRC twice
One last glance at my beautiful PCB :)

Updated README and added a release!! Btw I also added a little sketch fab model

Rendered my PCB!!! And also made this blueprint style image (see the second image)!!!

I spent some time on reading RP2040’s datasheet again and learned that there’s only two SPI and I2C engines, with 8 slices of PMW

• Read RP2040’s datasheet
• Fixed PMWA and PMWB routing
• Rerouted USB-C cuz I decided to swap it with the 01x04 pin header
  **Now you can see all the parts beside USB-C are rerouted and USB-C is also moved to the top-right corner

Here’s wat i did for the past two hours

• Added a 100uF polarized capacitor to prevent 12V spikes
• Rerouted the 12V connection part AGAIN OMGGG
• Edited RT6154AGQW footprint
• Cleaned up DRC errors

Finally finished routing!!!

• Rerouted “EVERYTHING” for the two voltage converters (you can see it in my lapse
• Reassigned PWMB to GPIO27 so that I could add some more vias
• Routed everything and cleaned up the silkscreen

OMG this is getting frustrated!!! I really should’ve used 4 layer board lol
Cuz now Im having two troubles

• Some GND pins are still unconnected
• There are two pins far apart……but they are blocked by traces from MCU DAMN

After two and a half hour of hard work, I almost finished the routing!!!!

• 0.18mm
• 0.20mm
• 0.30mm
• 0.50mm
• 1.00mm
  There’s really nothing to say about this process, it’s just fun lol

Spent some time roughly wiring up the screen tho it doesn’t work somehow (probly cuz i haven’t soldered my pins

Ok so I finalized my schematic after postponing for a month particularly cuz got a little lazy
Next up imma start routing the full-adder and order it
I also tested out all different cases to make sure I get it right the first shot

I roughly positioned all the main components and changed the number of output pins to allocate for GND and 3V3

• Motor driver at the front, far away from RP2040 chip
• 45mm x 45mm dimension
  *** I would still need to change the order of pin headers to reduce intersections as much as possible

Connected to footprints!!

COMPLETED THE SCHEMATIC!!!! FINALLYYYYY
I tried to make the PCB in a square shape lol
Btw this only includes RP2040 and TB6612FNG motor driver, I’ll add nrf24l01 later

Completed the schematic for AP62401 (12V to 5V) and TBTB6612FNG!!!
Damn and I just realized that TBTB6612FNG is actually the chip itself lol
Any way here’s a little diagram explaining how the power supply works:
12V –> AP62401 (12V to 5V) –> RT6154AGQW (5V to 3V3) –> MCU
–> TBTB6612FNG –> Motors

Spent some time on finding voltage regulator to convert 12V to 5V so that battery can also supply RP2040 (ofc not directly

• Learned and decided to use AP62401
• Created symbol and footprint for AP62401 by referring to the datasheet
  Link to the datasheet: https://www.diodes.com/datasheet/download/AP62400.pdf

I was figuring out how to wire the RT6150AGQW

• Pico schematic uses RT6150B-33GQW but apparently no one is selling it or it’s too expensive
• Ricktek only shows the minimal design so I have to figure the math
  R1 = R2*(Vout/Vfb - 1)
• Imported symbol and footprint for both RT6150AGQW and MBR120VLSFT1G
• Fixed the symbol to stay organized

I roughly completed my schematic while referring to pico schematic
Here are sth I noticed:

• Should use RT6154A instead of MCP1700x-330xxTT for larger current
• Add schottky diodes if external power supply is needed
• Connect GPIO24 and 23 to RT6154A to monitor whether the board is either using battery or USB to switch between PWM and power saving mode

V1 finally done, just spent some time updating my repo and posting the first release!
I also planned out the V2:

• Fix NFC feature, probly redraw the antenna ig
• Add a reset button
• Add a battery
• Add silkscreen, mask design with all my information just like a proper business card
  Just one last glance at my beautiful MCU :)

FINALLY DONE!!!!! I finished the game logic and flashing animation when either of the player won or a tie happened!!

Instruction

• Player 1 is orange, and player 2 is red
• Press left to move to the next grid
• Press right to select the grid
• Just like any tic-tac-toe rules

Well I changed the routing a little bit and removed two capacitors cuz they were kinda in the way and not very important
Anyway I think this might be the last devlog

OMG I just worked 3 hours on this and my tic-tac-toe card and im now just devlogging this after I did for the card

• Created git release
• Rerendered 3D model (this one looks better trust)
• Upload the model to sketchfab
• Added some final touch to my README

For the past two hours I finally made the control system work!!!!

• Press left button for next
• Press right button to select
• The pointer will automatically skip the selected grid
• The pointer will go back to the first grid if it reaches the last grid

• Rendered keyboard using blender
• Watched tutorials on how to simulate metallic textures
• Configured new preferences
• Exported STL using fusion 360
• Learned how to resize file through FBX
  The rendered keyboard is gorgeous!!! Btw the cherry keys are actually not metallic but it looks nice in the render so imma keep it lol

HUGE SUCCESS, I finally got the board and everything except the NFC seems to be working perfectly!!!

• Tested out all the LEDs
• Installed Micropython
• Installed Thonny
• Coded left and right buttons
• Watched Micropython Tutorials

For the past two hours I was learning how to render my PCB board
ik it might not sound very important, but it looks extremely cool!

• Installed pcb2blender
• Watched tutorials
• Imported new models for my USB port
  *** I didn’t even know how to use blender and I learned it along the way

I spent some time testing out all the pins!!! AND THEY ALL WORKED PERFECTLY!!!

• Installed Circuitpython
• Tested out all the pins
• Used multimeter to make sure everything works

I spent some time on soldering the logic gates, including AND, OR, NAND, and NOR gates. However, because I forgot to cut the wires before turning them on, I accidentally burnt the OR and NOR gates……DAMN
Overall, the AND and NAND gates worked pretty well:

• 10k resistors for the base
• Diodes to prevent current from leaking

Learned how to code and access RP2040 processor using XIAO-RP2040 (haven’t yet received the board yet so…….)
Tutorial I followed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07vG-_CcDG0&list=PLWNDWPAClRVoo0Z-QtCkXuM15jdb2Q54N&t=820s

• Installed Thony IDE (originally I was planning to use Micropython
• Swtiched to Circuitpython so that I could use VScode
• Trouble-shot Circuitpython extension (it sucks and I gave up)
• Eventually I noticed that I could simply use serial monitor in vscode (check out my lapse)

Check out the video!! https://hc-cdn.hel1.your-objectstorage.com/s/v3/4d0905c78ba392b4_img_0659.mp4

Here’s what I did for the past two hours:

• Excluded NFC from the copper pour
• Redesigned NFC Antenna
• Chose all the parts and edited BOM file, I repackaged everything thrice
• Triple-checked the 3D viewer
• Tried my best to replaced extended components with basic

PS: it’s 70 USD (89 CAD when I checked my bank account)!!!! SO I SPENT SO MUCH TIME ON CHECKING TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT

• Added silkscreen design to my PCB, including my logo and name
• Chose parts for JLCPCBA (spent so much time on avoiding extended parts…….
• Fixed the 3D model in PCBA viewer (SOOOO IMPORTANT OMG look from image 2 to 3
• Rerouted GPIO24, RUN, and GPIO 25
• Swapped the positions of 3V3 and 1V1 capcitors

I soldered the keys and the board!!!
But for some reason it’s still not working, apparently my Arduino Micro has some issues too cuz it kept disconnecting itself when tried to flash it……

For the past two hours I was trying to add NFC feature to this card!!!

For the past hour I was cleaning up everything, including:

• Swapping 1V1 capacitors with 3V3 (I mean the position) cuz 1V1 is crucial for chip logic supply and more delicate I suppose
• Adding more GND vias
• Rerouting a couple wires to the LEDs to allocate more space for NFC
• Cleaning up references
• Cleaning up DRC warnings and 2 errors

Finished routing everything!!!

• Rearranged the pins
• Added tons of GND vias as usual
• Aligned USB socket with the edge

Almost done wiring the IC components!!! YAYYY
PS: I deleted to capacitors as there are two pairs of 3V3 pins very close to each other

• Finished tic-tac-toe grid positioning
• Replaced 0402 with 0805
• Researching alternative flash storage (the original one is too big)

Roughly positioned the components, mainly searching parts on JLCPCB cuz extended parts are too expensive…….

Completed the schematic and footprints!!!
Part Selections:

• 0402 Capacitors
• 0402 Resistors
• 0402 LEDs
• RP2040
• ABM8-272-T3 12MHZ Crystal (recommended by the official)
• W25Q128JVS Flash Storage
• USB-C