I finished up the board design monday night & got the boards yesterday (it’s great how much more automated PC board manufacturing has gotten).  I eagerly soldered it up this morning.  I tested the power supplies before adding the rest of the circuit so that, if they had been incorrectly set, they wouldn’t have fried anything.  With everything in place (except the battery), it looked like this:

It looks dirty because I used a lot of flux to make sure the solder flowed where I wanted to; this will clean off easily with alcohol.  I used yellow kapton tape to hold the OLED in the correct place while I soldered it, but it doesn’t have to be there; I’m leaving it on just as extra protection against bumping while it’s out of the case.  Lastly, the OLED looks really dirty because it still has a soft protective film on it.

A quick tour of the PC board:  First, it’s just a little bigger than a square inch. See the vertical line slightly to the right of center?  All the parts are mounted to the right of that line so that the battery can occupy the left side.  By doing this, I can make the watch a millimeter thinner. Lastly, the large rectangle at the bottom is a cutout for the IC that’s part of the display. The quick-turn PC Board manufacturing I used wouldn’t allow for cutouts, so I dremeled it out -- that explains the rough edge.

Although I’ve reused a lot from previous prototypes, this board is mostly new components.  Both the OLED and the processor are parts I’ve never tested before, but they’re based on older versions that I’m familiar with.  Other new parts include an updated accelerometer, a better battery charger, and a new +12v power supply (although this one is basically interchangeable with the old one).  New features include two buttons, static protection on the charging port, a new way of connecting the charging port (still not wireless - if I had more time, I’d investigate that), and the possibility for loading new software in to the watch without ever opening it up.

That’s a lot  of updates, so I’ll cover them in a new post.  But, right now my main focus* is the Maker Faire - if you’ll be there, give me an email - john at maushammer, then dot com.  I’ll be there both days (& probably thursday and friday too).  I’ll also be helping some friends teach soldering classes.

(* besides my family that’s visiting, and, at my full-time job, the release of some amazing software in 2 weeks)

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5/12/2008 - Maker Faire Update: I had an awesome time!!! Of course this was kindof expected because Make Magazine puts on a great show, but it always surprises me in new ways.  I didn’t have a booth this year because I wanted more time to walk around and take in the other exhibitors. I was lucky to team up with the awesome folks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (don’t let their name fool you - they’re fairly well tempered) and got treated to the world premier of their cool Peggy 2.0 kit.  Last year I missed seeing their awesome candyfab, and this year I got to sit right next to it!.  Here’s a picture of our booth.

The IEEE interviewed me about my watch - they did an excellent job of editing together my rambling descriptions - thanks!  See the video here.

So, besides showing off the watch (and I’ve got a case prototype that I’ll post about), I got to meet tons of cool people from all over the world.  It’s an amazing community of makers - such creativity!  I also taught some soldering classes, and had an excellent student - Jake - whose first attempts were better than most professional engineers I know - he’s a natural!

Lastly, I was honored with an Editor’s Choice award from someone I really respect (that makes it all the better!), Mark Frauenfelder.  We’re both members of the order of people with ridiculous last names - thanks, Mark!

If you missed the San Francisco Faire this year, there will be another one in Austin.