Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post Here To Discuss The Super Pixel Bros Video Game

Moderators: Chuckt, Garth, bitfogav

Post Reply [phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable
User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:45 am

Hi people, I brought one of Brads great Super Pixel Bros PCB kits from itead studio and would just like to share how I put mine together.

The kit came with almost everything you need to build the Super Pixel Bros Kit, but I would recommend you buy a 8pin Dil socket for the MonoFonic Audio Chip and some normal header pins for the LCD display, examples below.

8pin Dill socket:
8-pin.png
8-pin.png (11.54 KiB) Viewed 21059 times
Pin Headers:
pins.jpg
pins.jpg (4.48 KiB) Viewed 21059 times

User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:05 am

Can I just say that you need to be pretty good with a soldering iron to solder the surface mount chips on the board, So I started off with soldering just the surface mount resistors first, its a good idea to use a good soldering iron tip and flux.
first1.jpg
first1.jpg (37.84 KiB) Viewed 21058 times
Next I solder on the main chips (74373 and 18f4550) and the on and off switch, note this can also be pretty tricky, I recommend a small soldering iron tip with very little solder on the tip of the soldering iron.
second2.jpg
second2.jpg (37.69 KiB) Viewed 21058 times
Then next I solder on the pin headers for the LED matrix, 8pin dil, power led, transitor and our 5volt regulator.
third3.jpg
third3.jpg (36.09 KiB) Viewed 21058 times
Thats taken care of most of the tricky parts, next we solder on the buttons, 9volt battery lead and the buzzer.
four4.jpg
four4.jpg (36.91 KiB) Viewed 21058 times
And to finish it off we then need to solder the LCD display to the board with the header pins and then fix the LED matrix.
five55.jpg
five55.jpg (31.71 KiB) Viewed 21058 times

User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:15 am

Heres a small video of the Super Pixel Bros, sorry for the poor quality of the video.



If you need more information about any of the steps above then just ask :)

User avatar
brad
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2578
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:30 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by brad » Thu Nov 24, 2011 4:24 pm

Excellent write up bitfogav!

Did you find it quite straight forward to build? (apart from the components being small SMD parts)

User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:50 am

brad wrote:Excellent write up bitfogav!

Did you find it quite straight forward to build? (apart from the components being small SMD parts)
Hey Brad,

Yes it was pretty much straight forward, I could see that you put alot of thought into this project so the user could build it with ease. but you still need to be handy with a soldering iron though! :)

Could we add a volume control to the buzzer on version 2? :lol: (maybe thats something Stacy could add to his MonoFonic chip) :lol:

User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:43 am

Hi everyone, Heres a few more things that I wanted to share.

There didnt seem to be a Buzzer orientation mark on the PCB so here is a picture of the correct position for the Buzzer with the + symbol marked on the Buzzer:
6-2.jpg
6-2.jpg (28.62 KiB) Viewed 21044 times
For the novice building this kit the position of the Microcontroller: Has you can see on the PCB there is a small white dot, which indicates Pin One of the microcontroller, this picture shows you the Orientation of the microcontroller, note that there is a small "dimple" on the microcontroller itself which should line up with the white dot on the PCB (the "dimple" on the microchip is abit hard to see in this picture):
7-2.jpg
7-2.jpg (38.36 KiB) Viewed 21044 times
I wanted to also point out where the resistors go on the board: The kit comes with 3 different resistor values (150ohms, 1k, 10k) Brad has clearly shown on the PCB where the resistors go:
11-2.jpg
11-2.jpg (55.26 KiB) Viewed 21044 times
And for those who want to reprogramme the microcontroller in circuit, Brad has added some handy ICSP pads on the back of the board, I have added some Pin headers to mine like this:
10-2.jpg
10-2.jpg (30.97 KiB) Viewed 21044 times

User avatar
brad
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2578
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:30 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by brad » Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:12 am

bitfogav wrote:
brad wrote:Excellent write up bitfogav!

Did you find it quite straight forward to build? (apart from the components being small SMD parts)
Hey Brad,

Yes it was pretty much straight forward, I could see that you put alot of thought into this project so the user could build it with ease. but you still need to be handy with a soldering iron though! :)

Could we add a volume control to the buzzer on version 2? :lol: (maybe thats something Stacy could add to his MonoFonic chip) :lol:
You can control the volume by putting your finger over the buzzer :D

User avatar
bitfogav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:03 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by bitfogav » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:19 am

brad wrote:You can control the volume by putting your finger over the buzzer :D
I think you been hanging around with Stacy too long Brad!! :lol:

User avatar
brad
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2578
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:30 pm
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Re: Building the Super Pixel Bros PCB Kit from Itead Studio

Post by brad » Sat Nov 26, 2011 7:47 am

bitfogav wrote:
brad wrote:You can control the volume by putting your finger over the buzzer :D
I think you been hanging around with Stacy too long Brad!! :lol:

I know, I'm trying to cut down though!

Post Reply
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/vendor/twig/twig/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php on line 1266: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests