Wings of Freedom! PCB Badge

hey everyone how's it going.

So this is the Scout-themed PCB Badge modeled after the scout's regiment "Wings of Freedom" from Attack on titan.

Previously I've made a similar PCB Badge which was also themed after one of the three regiments from AOT.

You can check that out from here-https://www.hackster.io/Arnov_Sharma_makes/attack-on-titan-military-regiment-badge-6decfa

But anyway, I've modeled this badge in my OrCad first which took time and effort but after finalizing the board, I sent it to PCBWAY for samples.

I received the badge and started the assembly process which was quite easy as this board only has a few components.

but before showing you guys the whole assembly process, let's first see this neat trick.

I bought a bunch of this brooch pin which is made from brass. we can solder brass if we add enough flux between it and its soldering pad.

In my case, I made a rectangular pad for soldering this brooch pin onto the PCB Badge so I could wear it or add it to my bag pack.

Previously I tried to do the same with my AOT military-themed badge but I did a mistake in its design and made a slot instead of a pad so I was not able to add this brooch pin with that badge.

what I'm trying to say here is, we can add this brooch pin to any PCB by adding a soldering pad for it and turning that PCB into a wearable device or something.

Material Required

• LEDs 0603 Green x 18
• 2R 1206 x 1
• THT Switch
• Custom PCB
• Attiny13A
• Arduino as ISP Setup
• Coin Cell holder
• 10K Resistor 0603 x 2
• Con2 header Pin
• Brooch Pin

Circuit Diagram and basic working

Here's the schematic of this project, all 18 LEDs are connected in parallel and are driven by an AO3400 N channel mosfet which is then controlled by an Attiny13A.

I've used Attiny13A in this project as it's minimal and easy to program MCU which is compact and cost-effective. For applications like blinking or fading one or two loads, it's the best MCU anyone can get.

Getting PCBs from PCBWay

After completing the design, I uploaded the Gerber data on PCBWAY's quote page, I selected the solder mask color which was white, and placed the order.

After placing the order, I received the PCBs in a week and the PCB quality was pretty great, This shape is completely random so it's pretty hard to make but they did an awesome job of making this PCB with no error whatsoever.

You guys can check out PCBWAY If you want Great PCB Service at an Affordable rate and low price.

PCB ASSEMBLY

PCB Assembly will include the following steps

Solder paste

The first step is to apply solder paste to each component pad.

I used a normal Sn-Pb solder paste which has a melting temp from 140 to 270 °C.

After Adding solder paste, we need to do the "PICK & Place Process"

PICK & Place Process

I then used an ESD Tweeaser to carefully pick and place each component on their assigned place one by one which took like 30 Seconds tops but the result was a perfect PCB with all the components placed in their place in the right orientation.

Hotplate

After the "PICK & Place Process", I carefully lifted the whole circuit board and place it on my DIY SMT Hotplate which is also homemade just like this project.

After Few mins when the hotplate reaches the Solderpaste melting TEMP, all the components will get soldered by this Hot Reflow process

ADDING LEDS

As for the LEDs, I will be using 0603 package LEDs. 18 of them.

but the twist here would be that I won't be using these LEDs in their normal orientation, I will be soldering them in an upside-down position so their glow would face the FR4 board which has a solder mask opening on both sides. this opening will transfer the glow from the backside to the front side.

To solder each led, I first added solder to one side.

then we pick and place the LED in its place and melt the solder we just placed and it will hold the led in its place from one side.

we then add solder to the other pad and this will secure the led from both sides and the led will be completely held down on its pad.

Now we just solder the rest of the LEDs one by one by following the same method.

ADDING THT COMPONENTS

After soldering all of the LEDs, we solder the THT componenets which are the brooch pin, CON2 vertical pin, the DC Slide switch, and the coin cell holder.

and our badge is finally completed. partially as we still need to add a blink sketch to make this board flash.

PROGRAMMING PART

the programming part is relatively simple as well. I've built an Attiny programmer that utilizes an Arduino nano as an ISP Programmer sketch that can turn any Arduino into a Serial flasher.

check more from here- https://www.hackster.io/Arnov_Sharma_makes/multiple-attiny85-13a-programmer-84adf8

we first have to connect the SPI Pins of Attiny with the SPI pins of the programmer. I added a SOIC Clip onto my programmer so we dont have to do any sort of connections at all. we just clip the IC in the right polarity and that's pretty much it.

• we open the sketch we want to upload,
• we choose the board which is the attiny13A,
• we select the right port with the right programmer which should always be Arduino as ISP.
• then we hit burn bootloader
• we have to wait for a few seconds and it will say done burning bootloader message.
• then we go to the sketch menu and select upload using the programmer.
• our sketch will get uploaded into the attiny13.

RESULT

And the badge is working!

we can see the glow of LEDs through the PCB.

This glowing thing is possible only if we remove the top and bottom layer's soldermask and add LEDs in an inverted position. it's a manual process that requires hand soldering.

I've made many projects based on this method that you can check out.

Thanks, PCBWAY for supporting this project, you can check out PCBWAY for getting great PCB Service at less cost.

This is it for today folks and I'll be back with the last AOT regiment badge soon!