USB PIC P Prog Com mpact Hard dware e ement tation n Imple

Summ mary

Based on the origina al thruhole design (rev. 0.3.2 2) a compa act version n of the program mmer hardw warehas be een develop ped, includi ing a new approach a to olinkthe ZIFsocket whicha accommoda atesthediff ferentPICversions v withoutthene eedtochangeconnectors.

Projec ct Scope

T Thecomple eteprogram mmershard dwarewillfit f inacomp pactsizeen nclosure,wh hichcan be easily transpor rted (in a small s bag or o even poc cket), or jus st stay nex xt to the de esktop / occupying much m desk ktop space. The desig gn should also be laptop computer, without o ticallyattrac ctive,soitwill w notdisturbanicely yarrangeddesktop d set tup. aesthet In order to o break wit th the trad ditionally s square box x design of o standard project enclosu ures,anewdesignhasbeenselect ted,ascanbeseenonFigure1.
Figure 1 Enclosure used to o accommoda ate the hardw ware main b board (includin ng the USB su ubboard) and d the ZIF sock ket board (P PACTEC Mode el 87836510508, PPLX Kit t, Grey w/ Bla ack Sides, externaldimen nsions121.9x78.7x33mm m).

Circui it Schema atics

T The circuit schematics s have been redrawn in order to o design a new n printed d circuit board (PCB), adequate for the space con nstraints of f the chosen cabinet. The T USB co onnector o simplify the physical layout, (type B) has been placed in a separate subboard, in order to since it needs to fit f precisely y in a hole cut in the enclosure, just protru uding 1 mm m to the e.Figure2showsthemain m boardschematics. s . outside

Figure 2Mainboardcircuitschem matics

Besides rea arranging th he components layout t, this desig gn is exactly the same e as rev. 0.3.2of ftheorigina alhardware e. What is completely new is the design d of th he ZIF sock ket board. The T original design conside ered using multiple m con nnectors, each e linked differently to the ZIF socket, s to program p the diff ferent PIC fa amilies. Thi is new desig gn has just one connector, and an array of switches s to perfo orm the same functio on. With thi is approach h, the final design is more m compa act, and there a are no loos se cables or o exposed connectors s. Figure 3 shows the e ZIF socke et board schema atics.

Figure 3ZIFsocketboard b schemat tics.Anarrayof27keys(ar rrangedin3groups) g replacestheconnec ctors.

Note the th hree added d capacitors s, between VDD and GND, G each made of ta antalum, marked d 10uF / 6.3V. 6 These e are SMD componen nts, and ar re intended d to suppr ress any electrical noise that may affe ect the +5V V line, whic ch may inte erfere with h the programming andomerro ors. sequence,givingra Inordertoknowtheposition p ofeach e keywhenprogrammingapa articularPIC Cfamily, n Figure4has been cre eated, and should s be kept k close to the hardw ware for the tableshown in reference.

Figure 4 PIC family y selection matrix. Each gr roup of keys is marked as s S1 through S3, while ea ach key is numbere ed from 1 to 9. Below each h PIC family name, n the ori iginal connect tor name (P2 through P9) has been keptforb backreferenc ce.

Sobasically y,ifaPIC16 6F628A(PIC C18P)istobe b program mmed,S1Keys K 1and2willbe ON,S2Keys8an nd9willbeON,andS3Key2willbeON.All ltherestwillbeOFF. If the userchanges of PIC family frequently, a good adv vice is to leave ALL key ys in the OFF po osition after using the e programm mer, just to t avoid er rrors due to t incorrect family selectio on when us sing it next time, until the habit of o verifying g the key co onfiguration n before program mmingismade. w why y the keys are a arrange ed in three groups; the e answer is simple: One may wonder three 9key DIP Switches ha ave been us sed (Grayhill, Series 78, 7 Model 78B09 7 with h Raised Slides).Usingara aisedslideversionisfu undamenta altoallowaneasyman nualchange eofeach (notoolsne eeded). switch(

Printe ed Circui it Boards s (PCB)

T The PCB for each section has bee en redesign ned in order r to fit the selected s en nclosure, asexpla ainedbefor re.Figure5showsthePCB P oftheUSB U connec ctorsubboa ard.
Figure 5USBconnec ctorsubboard d;justtheUSB BBtypeconn nector,a4pin nlinearheade erandtwoscrewholes.

T The main board b is sli ightly more e impressiv ve, but still an inside e the box type of board.S SeeFigure6. 6

Figure 6Mainboard;overalllayou utandcompo onentsplacem ment.

In the appe endix at the e end of thi is article yo ou may find d the actual l size PCB drawings d andsilk kscreen,sodo d notworryifsomereferences r are a notclearintheabo ovefigures.

T These two boards b will be mounted inside i the en nclosure. The e USB conne ector require es special care, sin nce it must fit exactly in a hole cut in n the enclosu use front panel. Figure 7 shows the separate partsan ndthefinalre esultwhenmounted m tog gether.

Figure 7Component tpartsandfin nalplacementoftheUSBsu ubboard.

T ThemainboardgoesjustnexttotheUSBsubboard,as sshowninFigure F 8.
Figure 8 Main board placed insid de the enclos sure; note the e additional screw s holes on the right side of the board,to ofitthecasebosses. b Theor riginalholeswere w intended dforadifferen ntsetup.

T The two boards b are connected with a 4wire flat cable c (Figure 9). The jumper betwee enVPP_SELF Fand VDDisalreadyin nplace;the erewillbeno n needtoremovethis spartin thefutu ure.
Figure 9MainboardandUSBsubboardare connecte edbya4wire eflatcable.

T TheZIFsoc cketboardiswherethe etruevalue eofthisdes signresides s.Thisboard dwillbe exposed d,mounted doutoftheboxsomuchcaremustbeexercisedwhenbuilding b it.Itwould have be een possible to put it inside i the enclosure, e cutting c large holes for the ZIF soc cket and the switches to be e accessible at the top of the unit. The decisi ion, howeve er, was to make m an tivedesign,andthisisthereasonwhythebo oardisexpo osed.Figure e10showsthePCB innovat oftheZ ZIFsocketboard.
Figure 10 0ZIFsocketboardPCB. Capacitors C1~C3 are mounted on the side; resistors s R1 and R2 2, as copper s well as connector J4 J will also be mounted d on the copper side, des spite beingsho ownontheco omponentside.

Since it will be fully v visible, this s board will be carefu ully cut and d all sides must m be perfectly straight. Dimension ns are also extremely important, since it will fit on a r recessed p side of the enclosure e. This board is 82 x 50 5 mm. As mentioned d on the portion of the top 1 only the e ZIF socke et and the switches go o on the co omponent side; all legend of Figure 10, parts go en the copper side. This allows a the component c t side (visible side) to be b clean other p fromco omponentsotherthanthoserequ uiredforthe euserinter raction.This salsoletsus u sticka printedsilkscreen,whichgive esamuchprofessionalfinishtoth hedesign.Figure11showsthe silkscreendesign.
Figure 11 1ZIFsocketboardsilkscre een. Thisdesig gnisprintedin i selfadhesiv vepaper,whic chislater coveredwith w transpar rentadhesivefilm. Bluepart tsarecarefullycutandrem moved,thepro otective backlaye erofthepape erisremovedexposingtheadhesive, anditiscarefully c glued dinplaceinthePCB.

T The silkscre een is glue ed to the PCB P right b before mounting the ZIF Z socket and the switche es. The cut areas have been calcu ulated so th hey just go below the component c ts, so no bare PC CB is visible e. The last step of this process is s to carefully mount and a solder the top compon nents.Thefinal f resultshould s besimilartoFig gure12.
Figure 12 2 ZIF socket t board finishe ed and in plac ce on top of t the enclosure. The silkscree en design also o includes indications about com mponents that t are outside the board, mounted m on th he actual plas stic of the box x, such as the LEDs and the Update / Run switch. s This co ontributes to create a seam mless transition between the t board andthee enclosuresurf face.

T There is an n additional step befor re achieving g the pleasa ant look of Figure 12; the top side of f the enclo osure must t be cut so the copper side of o the boar rd, with th he SMD compon nentsandconnector, c laysflatonthe t surfaceandaccess sisgrantedtothemain nboard. This cut t is a rough h one, it will be completely hidde en, and it is s big enough to expose e all the copper side; care should be e exercised, , however, not to cut t the angle es were the e board ured.Figure e13showsthe t innersideoftheto oppanel. screwswillbesecu
Figure 13 3Innersideoftoppanel.Thelargecut texposesthecopperareaand a SMDcomponents,aswell w asthe connecto orthatlinksto othemainboard(shielded) ).R1andR2are a alsomountedonthissid de.

Figure 13 also a reveals s the additional comp ponents mo ounted on the t box; th he three status LEDs L (cover red by grey plastic to keep k them in place) an nd the Upd date / Run switch. This sw witch replace es one of th he original jumpers; j OFF means jumper disconnected , so the unit is i in Firmware e Update Mode. M The ON O conditio on simulate es jumper connected c , so the unitisinNormalRunMode.There T isnoneedtoope entheunittoupdatethe t firmwar re. Once all th he connecto ors are firm mly locked in place, the unit can be closed and a it is to run (prov vided the internal PIC C has been loaded wit th the prop per firmware using ready t another programm mer, as it is extensively y explained in the orig ginal docum mentation). There is just a single conne ector on the e front panel, the USB B, and the rest r of the controls c are e on the toppan nel. The result is T i a compac ct, portable e and attrac ctive design n, with the full f function nality of theorig ginalidea.

Mar rceloMaggi(mmaggi@ @hotmail.com)June,2011 2

Appendix
PrintedCircuitBoards(actualsize)andSilkscreens: USBsubboard Mainboard ZIFsocketboard

Ultiboard-USB Breakout - 6/17/2011 - 2:13:56 AM

Ultiboard-USBPICPROG - 6/17/2011 - 2:22:49 AM

Ultiboard-USBPICPROG - 6/17/2011 - 2:23:59 AM

Ultiboard-ZIF Board - 6/17/2011 - 2:15:33 AM

Ultiboard-ZIF Board - 6/17/2011 - 2:21:39 AM