Week of 1/27

This the first thing I worked on was attempting to research ways of mounting the potentiometer to my freshly 3d printed handle. However, due to the very small error of the 3d printer the hole need to mount the potentiometer was just a tiny amount too large, thus I was unable to properly tap the hole to make allow it to screw into place. However, this week I had many other things that I wanted to get to and decided that I would come back to this issue later.

Fully printed handle

After this was complete I next took my efforts to cutting out the my circuit board. This started by me, firstly checking carefully on all of the connections between components of the PCB. After this I then brought the file to the PCB mills and cut it out. However due to plate I was using to cut out the PCB already being used it was slightly warped, meaning after probing and homing the mill it did not properly cut to the right depth in some areas, making me have to redo this process and cut over the same piece a second time. To add extra issues, when creating the sizing for the motor driver (a component in the circuit) I had accidently made the spacing one too wide, forcing me to have to adjust this issue in cad and recut.

Fully adjusted motor driver

First PCB cut

After this was finally complete, I finally brought the finalized file back to the PCB mill. I uploaded the file and everything went smoothly. Afterwards I was left with a brand new clean cut circuit board and after comparing its dimesons with what I have in the 3d printed body of the cleaner it should be a perfect fit. Tomorrow I hope to completely solder my PCB and ensure that it properly works. I think that almost all of this project should be wrapped up in the next week or so.

Finalized PCB cut