Ic 555-based Pcb Snowflake

About the project

Winter is here, and the most interesting thing in winter is Christmas. As a PCB designer, I build a blinking PCB snowflake

Project info

Items used in this project

Hardware components

JLCPCB Customized PCB JLCPCB Customized PCB x 1
Capacitor Kit, 0805 Capacitor Kit, 0805 x 1
TinyCircuits TinyLily LED 1206 TinyCircuits TinyLily LED 1206 x 1
Texas Instruments 555 Timers Ultra Low Voltage Texas Instruments 555 Timers Ultra Low Voltage x 1

Software apps and online services

Hot Plate, 800 W Hot Plate, 800 W
Hot Air Station, Industrial Hot Air Station, Industrial
Solder Flux, Soldering Solder Flux, Soldering
Solder Wire, Lead Free Solder Wire, Lead Free
JLCPCB easyeda JLCPCB easyeda

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic) Soldering iron (generic) x 1

Story


CIRCUIT DIAGRAM


So everything starts from this basic ic 555-based astable multivibrator circuit. the output current of the ic 555 is not enough for driving 16 LEDs, so I just added a transistor to the output of the IC 555 to drive 16 LEDs. I designed the circuit in easyeda.com and used all SMD component layouts to make the circuit. we can change the on/off (blinking) frequency by changing the values of the resistor and capacitor.

PCB DESIGNING


Top PCB Layer

Top PCB Layer

Top PCB Layer



Bottom PCB Layer

Bottom PCB Layer

Bottom PCB Layer


Next, I converted the circuit diagram into a PCB. As I said earlier here I used all SMD components so my plan is to place all components except the LEDs on the bottom of the PCB and LEDs on the top side of the PCB. Here I designed the PCB just like a snowflake shape. for that, I used the insert image tool of easyeda. after inserting a snowflake shape I drew the outline just above the image. After making a snowflake-shaped PCB I placed all components on the bottom side of the PCB. On the other side, I placed the LEDs. Here is the PCB after the design. Now I downloaded the Gerber files for PCB fabrication.


Top PCB Layer

Top PCB Layer

Top PCB Layer



Bottom PCB Layer

Bottom PCB Layer

Bottom PCB Layer



3D view of the top PCB Layer

3D view of the top PCB Layer

3D view of the top PCB Layer



3D view of the Bottom PCB Layer

3D view of the Bottom PCB Layer

3D view of the Bottom PCB Layer


PCB FABRICATION

To fabricate PCBs I went to JLCPCB.com. JLCPCB provides PCB fabrication and PCB assembly for a low price. You will get 5 PCBs just for 2$ and PCB assembly starts from zero dollars. To place an order click on order now and upload the Gerber file. After uploading the Gerber file select the quantity, thickness, colour etc. Here I choose white colour. Then I selected the shipping method and finally placed the order.


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PCB ASSEMBLY

After two weeks l received the PCBs from jlcpcb. You can see that the PCB looks very nice and the quality is superb.

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components

following are the things required in this built-

  • 1*555 timer IC
  • Custom PCB from jlcpcb
  • 1*10K Resistor -0805
  • 3*1kiloOhms Resistors-0805
  • 1*10uf Capacitor-0805
  • 1*10nf Capacitor-0805
  • 12*LEDs - 0805
  • 6*LEDs -1206
  • 1*SOT-23 2n2222 transistor

This circuit only has a few components so we can either solder it by hand or we can use the reflow method here I used both methods. After soldering the components, on the opposite side, I solder the LEDs. We can use any colour LEDs here. I used two types of SMD LEDs here that are 1206 and 0805. Here are the PCBs after soldering the components to PCB


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TESTING

On the back side of the PCB, there are two points for connecting the power wire. There I connected the single-stranded copper wires which will also act as the hanging support while using it on trees. That's it. now you can see the result of our snowflake.


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You can buy kits from here. So that's all about today hope you enjoyed and learned something new from my tutorial if so please like share and subscribe. Thanks for watching. Will see you with another tutorial.



Video Tutorial



Schematics, diagrams and documents

circuit diagram

Code

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