[0:01] hey everyone it’s christmas project time
[0:04] i’ve made a flashing christmas tree i’ll
[0:07] quickly run through the pcb design and
[0:09] manufacture with jlpcb
[0:12] and then we can try assembling one of
[0:13] them it’s really not a complex circuit
[0:17] we just need a jumper to connect power
[0:19] and then we need nine pairs of resistors
[0:20] and
[0:21] leds
[0:26] converting this to a pcb we just need to
[0:29] import my custom board shape
[0:31] i designed this using a graphics tool to
[0:33] create an svg shape
[0:35] and then converted that to a dxf file
[0:37] using an online tool
[0:39] there’s only really one thing to be
[0:40] careful about and that is making sure
[0:42] the leds
[0:43] are all in the same orientation this
[0:45] will make assembly
[0:46] a lot easier i’ve tried to arrange the
[0:50] resistors in a
[0:50] visually pleasing way so they will look
[0:52] nice and i think i’ll probably assemble
[0:54] them on one side of the board
[0:56] and the leds on the other side so maybe
[0:58] it doesn’t really matter
[1:01] for layout i could have done just copper
[1:03] paws for both power and ground
[1:05] but i think it’s a bit nicer in this
[1:06] case to have individual traces
[1:13] with the layout done we can send it off
[1:15] to jlpcb for manufacture
[1:18] looking back i should have got more
[1:20] boards as it’s so cheap to get them
[1:22] manufactured
[1:23] the shipping is relatively expensive
[1:40] a couple of weeks later we have a box
[1:42] from jlpcb
[1:44] looking inside we find a cat
[1:47] not quite what i was expecting digging
[1:49] deeper we find our christmas project
[1:51] pcbs
[1:53] let’s get assembling i’m using these
[1:56] really neat
[1:56] self-flashing color-changing rgb leds
[2:00] you can these use these just as you
[2:01] would a normal led which is really
[2:03] convenient
[2:04] first thing i’ll do is solder in the
[2:06] resistors it doesn’t really matter which
[2:08] way we put these
[2:09] but it’s nice to have them all pointing
[2:11] in the same direction
[2:24] with the resistors all done let’s get
[2:26] the leds in
[2:27] i’m going to do them on the other side
[2:29] of the board of the resistors i think
[2:30] the solder joints give quite a nice
[2:32] effect
[2:33] we just need to make sure all the leds
[2:35] are oriented in the same direction
[2:37] and then solder them in
[2:45] it’s a pretty good effect
[2:53] i’ve turned down the exposure on the
[2:54] camera so you can actually see the
[2:55] colors
[2:56] and with it on normal exposure it’s
[2:58] quite hard to capture the full effect
[3:01] a couple of things to remember for next
[3:02] time really should label the power input
[3:05] and order more boards i’ll be sending
[3:07] these out to a few friends with kids
[3:09] we’ll see how they get on thanks for
[3:11] watching and merry christmas
[3:22] you