The Kraken

I was assigned to create a PCB for testing machines along the production line at Wazer. The goal was to make something that can check as much as possible before hitting certain final stages in production. Finding issues beforehand saves time and money. There are tons of peripherals and electronics on a Wazer that could be checked at various stages. This PCB handles all the stuff before we water seal the machine. If something was to go wrong after it would be a huge hassle to take apart and reseal.

While i wont go into the entire list of checks it does, i will talk about the electronics that went into it.

The main controller or MCU here is the ATMEGA2560V-8AU. Its a 3.3v chip and runs @ 8MHz using a bootloader from MCUdude called the MegaCore. The bootloader allows me to use a simple USB to UART and the Arduino IDE to program and make changes quickly and with no special programmer needed.

As usual i try to place my logo on all my boards.

Some of the testing lines use zener diodes to protect the MCU pins from spikes (high voltage), the zeners used are BZB84. Another IC used is the SN65LVDS049 which is a Dual-LVDS Differential Driver and Receiver. Just one for an SPI line. This allows me to communicate over long wires VIA spi without interference.

On the back are some magnets which allow users to place it on surface and have it stay put.

Below is the Kraken in its home/base.