People from all over have emailed me with ideas for their own version of the Pingbot. The most recent was a teacher designing a through hole version for use with his students and during our chat he told me about OSH Park. It is a batch order PCB process where orders are taken until they can fill up a sheet and then the designs are sent of for fabrication. For hobbyists this provides a way to get cheap, professional circuit boards that they couldn't possibly produce on their own.
| And I do mean cheap. Three pingbot PCBs only cost $16 and they should be here in just a few weeks! This is my first time ever submitting files that I created to a fab house, I can't wait to get the boards and see if I managed to design everything correctly. I've spent many hours learning about how PCBs are fabricated and goofing around with Eagle, but this will be the first real test of that knowledge. If all goes well I will have a couple new Jameco Kit version Pingbots and a trio of v2s to play with, and that will be fun, but I will also then have two proven prototypes that can be cheaply replicated. It will be a huge advancement for the project. |  |
