PICAXE "Shield"
@ April 7, 2009
Prototyping board for PICAXE 28 AXE020
Time to build:
2 hours
- CPU: PICAXE 28 series
As a user of both PICAXE and Arduino micros, one of the things I like about the Arduino system is the "shields". T
Shields are stackable add-on boards for the Arduino. Shields come in many flavors, from simple prototyping to motor drivers to Xbee. The shields allow attaching other circuits without directly soldering to the main board.
Shields work for the Arduino because there is a standardized form factor.
Unfortuantely for PICAXE users there is no standard format, well sort of...
It seems that the AXE020 board is very popular seems to be a defacto standard here on LMR. I had some time on a dreary rainy afternoon, So I decided to sketch out a couple of possible PICAXE 28 proto shields.
I generally do not use commercial boards, they tend to be expensive, are the wrong shape or have too many functions or not enough. I am one othose guys who actually does make their own pcbs. It is not really that difficult and after you've done a few it is second nature. I use DIPTRACE to draw out the schematic or pcb and then use Toner Tranfer to add the resit then etch and drill. There are a lot of good sites explaining the proicess, so I may save that for another Tip/walk through.
Here are a couple of ideas. The control signals are brought up onto the stackable PICAXE protoshield, along with a reset switch and a power LED and a grid of holes is left for trhe user.
These are rough drafts only, just to get a overall feel for the possilbilites.
Myc Holmes
@ Wed, 2009-04-08 10:22
Unused holes
C,
I had thought about that, but there didn't seem to be enough clearance to easily add a connector there.
So I "borrowed" an ides from the AXE030 Servo Expansion Pack, and decided it was easiest to replace the darlington driver with a 330 ohm resisitor pack. This will bring the non-inverted signals up to the PICAXE Protoshield board. Besides, It's always good practice to add a resistor to protect an output signal
Myc
@ Wed, 2009-04-08 09:19
me likey
I came to LMR today with the exact purpose of asking what all this "Shield" jibber-jabber was. Holmes was 5 steps ahead of me.
One thing I would add is some support for those typically unused holes in the middle of the proto board (to the immediate right of the axe chip) for pulseouts and such.
@ Tue, 2009-04-07 16:24
Pretty cool! in fact, this
Pretty cool! in fact, this way you could get best from both worlds; Plug in your project on a standard board, like a LEGO-brick. That way you could have just one standard board for all the boring parts, and hook it on to all your homemade stuff, if they all follow the standard :)
Yes, I am pointing out the obvious, but that just shows that it is a good idea; Like if the weather is nice, people say "What a nice weather" :D
@ Tue, 2009-04-07 23:04
I like this weather too
@ Tue, 2009-04-07 11:49
Wow very nice idea, I like