[dorkbotpdx-blabber] accellerometers!

[Mykle Hansen]

oh geez, i'm reading this article and running away screaming:

  http://curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/QFN

on the other hand, this skillet approach looks promising:

   http://www.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2007/01/20/reflow-skillet- 
mxc6202/

although that's with a pre-tinned circuit board -- one of the
many kinds of circuit board that i don't know how to make.

for prototyping, i think the sparkfun breakout, at $19.99,
is probably just as good for me as the $3.18 chip from
Digikey plus $9.99 for the schmartboard, plus some amount
of my time and some decent chance of fucking up the whole
operation.  i'll spend $7 bucks to remain a n00b for
a little while longer.  =)

but if/when i get to the point of designing a PCB ... i guess
i need to learn more about my options.  can i get PCBs made
with pre-tinned leads for a QFN chip?  or should i start
looking for a different package now?

meanwhile: i also need to get a new Arduino system, since
the only one I own is on tour with the Speed-Vest.

so when's the next DorkBoard party?

-m-

On Sep 2, 2008, at 12:57 PMTuesday, Mr.T wrote:

> most surface mount soldering sounds way harder than it actually is.  
> all it
> takes is a magnifier and patience. That said, the QFN and LGA packages
> that all the sensors from freescale use are not the place to start. if
> you want to use that sensor but don't want to pay the $20 you can  
> get the
> sensor from digikey:
> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail? 
> name=MMA7260QT-ND
>
> and use the QFN schmartboard to break it out:
> http://www.schmartboard.com/index.asp?page=products_csp&id=74
>
> I think that they sell the schmartboards at Fry's now too
>
> -eric
> _____________________________
> Drtwist:
> drtwist at aracnet.com
>
> On Tue, 2 Sep 2008, Mykle Hansen wrote:
>
>> that looks easy and all, but i was hoping to just buy a little chip,
>> since i'm like the one person on this list who doesn't already
>> own a Nintendo Wii.  =)
>>
>> i see that there are many competing chips now.  SparkFun has
>> this one:
>>
>>    http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=308
>>
>> ... it seems to come in a surface-mount package, but they also  
>> sell the
>> same chip on a break-out board, just for arduino-heads.
>>
>>    http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=252
>>
>> which is probably what i'll start with.  my goal for my next project
>> is to
>> design a complete board, but i admit i have no idea what's  
>> involved in
>> getting a surface-mount chip mounted to a surface.  is that something
>> humans can do in homes?  or do i need to make friends with a robot
>> factory worker?
>>
>> -m-
>>
>>
>> On Sep 2, 2008, at 10:19 AMTuesday, Brian Richardson wrote:
>>
>>> This is something I've wanted to play around with a little bit
>>> too.  It doesn't look too hard, here's a page that describes how to
>>> do it:
>>>
>>> http://www.windmeadow.com/node/42
>>>
>>> and here's a page that has a simple board that lets you play around
>>> without cutting the nunchunk cord:
>>>
>>> http://todbot.com/blog/2008/02/18/wiichuck-wii-nunchuck-adapter-
>>> available/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 9:36 PM, Mykle Hansen <mykle at mykle.com>  
>>> wrote:
>>> hey all,
>>>
>>> has anyone in the portland dorkspace played around with
>>> these new on-chip accellerometers?  the ones that are
>>> in iPhones and Wii remotes and apple laptops?  i wonder
>>> how hard they are to interface with the Arduino, and how
>>> much they cost.  i have a project in mind for one, although
>>> it's more of a bike-nerd project than anything truly
>>> artistic.  but it seems like the interactive potential is strong ...
>>>
>>> -mykle-
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>>
>
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