A Lunetta Project Board

[Inventor]

Upon completing the Lunetta Challenge, it occurs to me now that I would really have liked to have made my circuit in a permanent form. While various boards are available at great prices, they do not contain Lunetta project features that I would like to have. Some of these features include the following:

- 9V battery holder
- six 40106 oscillators
- alpha pots on edges
- LM386 speaker driver
- mini 8 ohm speaker
- 1/8" stereo input jack
- 1/8" stereo output jack
- voltage follower buffers for stereo i/o
- breadboard wiring area

That's my initial feature list and I would like to open a discussion of what you would like on the board. Remember that we only have the maximum Eagle CAD demo version board size which is roughly the size of an index card to pack as much Lunetta circuitry on as possible.

For interconnect I'm thinking of a simple pad array with power and ground busses, plus three holes per chip pin for wiring. Two holes will be adjacent to the chip and one underneath it. This would pack the interconnect densely yet still allow for use of the space under the chip for an extra hole with a little tricky soldering.

The plan is to not accomodate banana jack on the board, but to enable the board to be used in a banana jack enclosure by running wires to the pads. Normal use of the board will be a one-time-only build of a Lunetta project. Optionally, it may be possible to simply size the holes for those little screw terminals that are pricey but enable nonpermanent interconnect.

And finally a word on the preorders and mailing. I will not be doing that part as the past is an indicator that I am not well suited for such an effort. Instead I have approached a familiar friend who is thinking it over and will let us know if interested in doing the mailing.

Well, that's it, I open the thread for discussion!

Les

[Inventor]

I decided to take the time to do some schematic capture and layout of the design, excluding the array in the middle. IT has all of the features mentioned above, I believe.

Les

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LunettaPCB1pcb.pdf
Description:	PCB layout	Download
Filename:	LunettaPCB1pcb.pdf
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LunettaPCB1sch.pdf
Description:	schematic	Download
Filename:	LunettaPCB1sch.pdf
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[Inventor]

Well talking in the chatroom I gather that some would prefer to remove the 40106 oscillator and the LM386 amplifier with speaker in favor of more prototyping area. That's cool with me. I do feel that the audio i/o jacks are necessary though. Tell me what you think about removing those circuits please...

Les

[Inventor]

Well I started laying out the patch array and I got to thinking that perfboard is awfully cheap and it will not be cost effective to reinvent that wheel. However I do feel that a Lunetta power / interface board would be useful. So maybe I should design a board that plugs into perfboard to provide those functions. That way any perfboard of any type can be used and you just pop in one of these Lunetta adapters to get your power and analog i/o, etc. How's that?

Les

[fluxmonkey]

sounds alot like 1/2 of what's on the looneyboards (http://www.fluxmonkey.com/electronoize/looney1.htm)... still available, btw

bbob

[Inventor]

thanks, bbob, I was not aware of the Looney Board. I'm thinking that since that board is out there, there may be no need for this proposed board. Although the Looney Board does not have the 1/8" I/O jacks and buffers that this board would have.

If the Lunetta community does see a need for this PCB, my concept is now to provide a very inexpensive power and 1/O board that mounts to either stripboard or breadboard via header pins. That way you don't have to rig up funky soldering art creations just to get jacks and power onto your project. That would be the niche that this board would fill. Also cost would be low, maybe $5 or so because board size would be quite small.

Is there a product out there that does this already, surely there must be? If not, should we go ahead with this design?

Les

[inlifeindeath]

i think you had a great idea to begin with Inventor. Don't let others dissuade you from creating! Feature creep seems to kill project, especially when too many others get involved. Run with it, you are THE INVENTOR after all

[Inventor]

[deadbeat]

seems to me far away from the looney baord ( which is really great, too !!), and a really good idea, too, inventor. I would be interested in it.

[blownauratone]

I'd definitely pick up at least a few if this happens, Inventor! Great ideas.

[hendrixworkshop]

Les,

Great idea. I agree with the others to not get discouraged - and push through your idea and the board. I like the Looney Boards that bbob sold me, but I'd still buy at least 4 of these Lunetta boards. Thanks for inventing.

Andy

[Inventor]

Hi Andy, I recall your nick from your interest in my other projects. I don't know if this one is going to happen, probably not. On the one hand I never met with any financial success doing electronics runs, and on the other hand I'm selling chainmaille here in Texas like hotcakes. People love this stuff I create! Also I will be beginning "electronics school", teaching three people at work here some Lunetta basics and providing them with kits, etc. The result should be a nice beginner's course. Should be fun, but will prevent me from doing this project. If only there were time...

Les

[hendrixworkshop]

You're not in Austin are you?

[Inventor]

San Antonio.