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I do have the schematics, but I'm not sure how useful they'll be since I didn't label everything and this was the first time I'd done anything like this, so I'm sure anyone familiar with schematics will cringe. I changed my layouts substantially since the versions I posted before mostly due to space. I realized that I didn't have room for the Arduino/NB to sit on header pins on top of a PCB! I also realized that moving the NB and Arduino to the same side would give me more breathing room and the ability to run larger traces on a one-sided board. Below are the final versions that I used.
This is the LED driver. Pin 1 on the constant current drivers (CAT4101) tied back to the PWM pins on the Arduino for the appropriate color. Pin 2 are all tied together and eventually tie to the positive battery terminal. Pin 3 and the backing pads are all tied to ground. Pin 4 goes to ground through a resistor that regulates the power output of the driver (750mA for this if I remember correctly). Pin 5 is split and ties to the negative pad on the LEDs for the respective colors. The other end of the board has the transistor array that handles the accent LED (my first version version of this for CVI used the same type of array for the main LED, but my current needs eventually fried it). The top leads are the inputs from the Arduino for the three accent LED colors, the Arduino input to control the NB, and a connection to ground (not in that order). The bottom pins are the outputs for LEDs (which connect to the LED via a resistor), and NB. Also, the pin just to the left of these four connects to the positive pad on the LED at that end of the saber.
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...riverv3sch.png
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...r/Driverv3.png
This PCB sits with the Arduino and NB at the other end of the saber. I'm not sure if it's simpler to understand or more complicated since there isn't much going on. Mostly I was using this board to tie/split different wires, but lets see what I can remember. The four pads in the lower right, plus all the connecting pads, are ground. The five pads to the left of that are Vin. Vin passes through a diode (per the NB manual when working off 4.8v) and eventually ties to the NB pad after looping around (the NB ground also loops around). When I had this on the breadboard, I had issues with noise getting into the NB from the constant current drivers. I hoped that the PCB would help with the noise, but wanted the ability to add capacitors if needed. I think I only used one in the finished product and that eliminated the noise. I think the three pads in the upper right were for the switches that connected to the Arduino. I'm trying to remember what the last pair are for. They might be to connect the NB switch pin to the pin from the transistor array, but I'm not positive
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...Saber/NBv2.png
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...er/NBv2sch.png
I hope that made sense. Please let me know if you have any questions on it.
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This might be an obvious question but how did you attach all the aluminum?
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I hate to necro threads but this one definitely deserves it. Dear lord this is absolutely beautiful and quite a bit of inspiration. Lots of ingenuity in there, good job my friend!
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Speaking of bumps... Rogue, were you at Momoncon this weekend? One of my employees showed me a picture of his brother and I immediately said, "I know that saber!"
