Proximity-Sensing LEDs Part 2: On a PCB

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I designed the proximity-sensing LED circuit to eventually move it on to a printed circuit board, or PCB. This was my first experience with PCB layout, and thankfully it was successful! The board I designed is in the picture below. We ordered 6 “prints” and soldered them in our MakerSpace. I also included extra vias (electrical connections between the layers of the board) so that we could connect multiple boards together.

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If you’re interested in learning PCB layout, I posted an Instructable on my design process. You can find it here. I will also be teaching a PCB layout course in our MakerSpace next Thursday. I used CadSoft’s EAGLE software to do the layout, and CadSoft offers a freeware version of EAGLE so anyone can do this! A link to the Instructable will be posted here very soon.

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3 Comments on “Proximity-Sensing LEDs Part 2: On a PCB”

  1. I need to build something like the Octolively Interactive LED Kit (10.16 X 20.32 cm)
    http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/411
    or your Proximity-Sensing LEDs Panel.
    The Panel should be about (7.5 x 16cm) or smaller.
    I am an total beginner, and need something like this Interactive LED Panel
    for an model at my university for Industrial Design. And i really do not know how to build this.
    Please contact me if it is possible to buy one of the proximity Sensing LED Panels or
    if there is a possibility to help me. I already contacted the Evil Mad Scientist shop and ask them if there is a smaller version of their Octolively Kit but they told me there is no smaller version.
    In the photo above the Proximity-Sensing LED Panel looks quite small in comparison to the battery and i think that it is perfect for my model.
    I would be really thankful if there is a possibility to buy this panel or anybody could help me. 🙂

  2. Hi Nhung Pham,

    The author of this blog post no longer works at Digilent, but you can view the two Instructables that he made here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Motion-Sensing-LEDs/ and here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-PCB-Design-in-EAGLE-Part-2-of-Proximity-Sens/

    In the first one I linked to, Will explains that you can build the board as large or as small as you want to; he just happened to arbitrarily choose the size that you see in the photographs.

    Thanks,
    James Colvin

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