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Fabrication guide for SimpleFOCShield v1.3.3

Here is a quick guide how to fabricate the Arduino SimpleFOCShield version V1.3.3

Board releases

To check the release timeline, click here

VersionlinkRelease dateComment
SimpleFOCShield v1.3release v1.304/20Inital release
SimpleFOCShield v1.3.1release v1.3.107/20added Nucleo stacking support
SimpleFOCShield v1.3.2release v1.3.209/20added I2C pullups
SimpleFOCShield v1.3.3release v1.3.312/20adapted L6234 circuit + full Arduino header

Github repository contains:

  • Schematics - PDF file
  • Gerber - Gerber, NC Drill & Assembly files
  • Bill Of Materials (BOM) - Excel sheet
  • 3D model - 3D PDF & STEP file
  • PCB design project - Altium Designer 2019

Fabrication procedure and cost

The price of the fabrication will highly depend of the number of boards and the companies you decide to use both as PCB manufacturers and the component suppliers. Here are two nice articles explaining how to approach the problem choosing the PCB manufacturer form electronics-notes.com and component supplier from electronics-notes.com. But in most of cases it will always boil down to the price :)

PCB fabrication + Self assembly - preferred choice 📢

This is probably the proffered choice for making this board in lower quantities. You can order the PCBs from your manufacturer, buy the components from your supplier of choice and solder the boards yourself. The board has been designed to be relatively easy to solder.

PCB fabrication

Download the gerber files and provide them to your PCB manufacturer of choice. So far I have used seeedstrudio and JLCPCB. The price of 10 PCBs is around 5$ but the shipping was around 20$.

QuantitySeedStudioJLCPCB
55€2€
105€2€
3030€15€
5050€30€

On top of these prices you will have to pay shipping of approximately 20€.

Component purchase

Here is a complete list of all the components you will need to make the board:

ComponentDescriptionQuantityManufacturer Number
L6234 circuit: Datasheet
C10.1 uF1C1206C104M5RECAUTO
C20.01 uF1C1206C103J3RAUTO
C31 uF1C1206X105K3RAC3316
C40.22 uF1C1206C224J5RECAUTO7210
CAP1100 uF (Electrolytic)1EEEHAV101XAP
BAT1Schottky diodes1TBAT54S,LM
L6234Motor driver chip1L6234PD
Pull Up and Pull Down resistors
PULL_SCL, PULL_SDA, R24.7kΩ3603-RC1210FR-074K7L
PULL_A, PULL_B, PULL_I3kΩ3RN73H2ETTD3001F50
LED circuit
D1Red LED1156120RS75300
R1620Ω1RN73H2ETTD6200F50
Terminal connectors
TB_M13 pin, 5mm1TB002-500-03BE
TB_PWR2 pin, 5mm1TB002-500-02BE
Header connectors
P1, P48 pin, female, long2872-920-0086-01
P210 pin, female, long1872-920-0087-01
P36 pin, female, long16fx1L-254mm
P_ENC 5 pin, male/female1649-1012937990501BLF

The same list ( a bit optimized for PCB manufacturers ) you can download on link Bill of Materials. In my case I have used Mouser as my component supplier but the components of this board should be easy to find with any other supplier. The price of the components was around 10$ per board and the shipping was again around 20$ (for orders under 50$).

Note

The components with the manufacturers numbers I have chosen are not really set in stone, feel free to optimize them both in terms of prices and values if necessary.

Board assembly and soldering

Once when you have all the components and the PCBs the fun begins. All the components are relatively easy to solder. All the capacitors are 1206, all the resistors are 1210, the connectors are all through-hole and there is no real small SMD components. Therefore with some patience and you should have no problems soldering this board with a regular soldering iron and a bit of time. Therefore take a coffee and one deep breath and you are ready for 20 minutes of fun.

Note

The board itself already has the descriptor names of the components on it so it should be easy to determine which component goes where. There is also an assembly drawing in the Pick and Place folder of the gerber files if you prefer to have a printed version.

PCB fabrication and assembly service

This option is a lot simpler and produces much better results. It is also even cheaper for larger quantities > 50pcs. To order the boards, download the Gerber files and Bill of Materials and supply it to your manufacturer of choice. In my case, I’m using the JLCPCB.

Fully assembled versions

Order your own fully tested and assembled Arduino SimpleFOCShield from our shop.