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Blinken Buttons for Beginners – a SMT Beginners Kit

Marcus — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:57:25 +0000

You all know the Blinken Button Kit (aka Space Invaders Button). One of the biggest flaws of this kit is that it is not really a beginners kit. But with the help of Jeff (really big thanks for that) I was able to convert it to a perfect SMT beginners kit. The design was drastically simplified to make it easy to solder, while maintaining the original functionality.

The original Blinken Buton design has undergone some changes to make the desing more SMT beginners-friendly:

Massively reduced number of components (removing the Arduino comatibility).
Very clear component marking.
All resistors and capacitors use a 1206 packaging for ease of assembly.
Enhanced LED-Matrix footprint for easier testing.

The most important change was to improve the component marking and using hand-solder-friendly 1206 components. It now has a clear marking which component goes where and for the ATMega orientation:

The whole kit can be soldered by SMT novice and is easily testable – so if you was looking for a SMT beginners kit this is the one for you!

The LED matrix footprint has clear markings which pin is an Anode (square pins) or Cathode (round pins) to enhance testability. It is easy to ensure that you have a working design before you solder the LED matrix to reduce the probabilty of errors.

BMP085 Barometric Pressure Sensor Breakout Boards arrived!

Marcus — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:56:46 +0000

You may know that I played around a bit with the BMP085 barometric pressure sensor. Now I am proud to announce that the BMP085 barometric pressure sensor is available as breakout board in the Interactive Matter Shop.

The BMP085 Breakout Board is a limited offer. I just got some at hand and supplies last as long as supplies last and are gone after they are gone. They come completely pre-assembled and tested.

Blinken Button – The LED Matrix Button Kit

Marcus — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:45:06 +0000

Interactive Matter proudly present the first Interactive Matter SMT Kit
The Blinken Button! Head over to the shop to grab yours!

The Blinken Button is a kit for a 8×8 LED Matrix button (the jacket one). It is based on the Space Invaders Button you may already know. Get all the information on the product page.

History

The Blinken Button is a direct descendant of the Space Invaders Button. It is optimized to be an entry level SMT kit. It did not really work out to be total entry level, since all the electronics is behind the display, which makes it a great gift or fashion accessory, but if you made a mistake in soldering – there is no way to fix it (easily). So very intensive testing is needed. But if this is not your first kit and you already did some mistakes, you can handle it.
It is basically Arduino compatible. But it comes without the Arduino code out of the box. This is something that will be enabled quite soon.

The need for a name

Coming up with a name was the most complicated thing. I positively did not wanted to use the name Space Invaders Button. I do not want to fight with Atari or whoever got the name now.
Using then name 64 Pixels Button was something I tried and it really made it onto the PCB – but Alex had concerns that it interferes with his 64 Pixels project. And he was right.
So the name was Blinken Button. It is so for three reasons: First my girlfriend calls it like that anyway, second it is basically just some Blinkenlights and third it is a homage to the CCC Blinkenlights, I really enjoyed some years ago.

The Future

It will not stop here.

First the Arduino compatibility will be explored. This will most probably work out with the current version with an software update.
There is an USB version planned, with much more control for users who do not have an AVR programmer.

Thats all for now. So go over to the shop , join Interactive Matter in the grand shop opening and grab yours.

Interactive Matter goes Kit

Marcus — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:01:00 +0000

The questions for kits grow stronger and stronger in the comments. Therefore I am happy and proud to announce that Interactive Matter starts selling kits. The first will be the Space Invaders Button. The first round of prototypes has been packaged and already shipped:

Soon we will add order forms and how to descriptions for all the kits we will offer – so stay tuned.

All kits will be more or less SMT-only. So this is a great way to get started with SMT. To make choosing easier any kit will be labeled with ‘Beginner’ or ‘Advanced’ or ‘Expert’, to reflect the necessary skill level and the tools you need.

Most kits on offer will be first offered as pre-production or prototype runs. Therefore expect a delayed delivery (some of the stuff is even not on order yet). But these staues will be included in the kit description. So thanks for your patience. But to speed up the process leave a comment which project you want to see as a kit. So I can estimate what has to prepared.

And if you do not like kits at all there will be also some pre-assembled stuff on offer. It is going to be very interesting – at least for me.

Interactive Matter: The first year!