A general summary of project progress as of February 26th, 2022. This week was reading week!
Electrical
The PCB layout for the custom controller board has been completed.
The board is a 2 layer board to save on production time as additional time will be needed for the manufacturer to assemble the boards. In general, the layout of the components is reminiscent of the stock Ender 3 controller board, with the mounting holes and USB placement matching the Ender 3 board exactly so that it can be secured in the same enclosure. For the ICs, the layout requirements were followed in the data sheets and the power lines were kept as thick as possible to ensure that they wouldn’t burn up with high current. Some vias were also added for heat dissipation near the MOSFETs, power area and the motor controllers, wherever is most prone to heating up. Lastly, test points were added for connections that are not easily accessible for testing and debugging, which should hopefully make the process easier.
