Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

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AnotherUsername
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Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by AnotherUsername » Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:05 am

I see a lot of people asking about how to create a button PCB using copper tape, but not a lot of guides on how to do so. I wouldn't call this a guide, so much as what I did that worked for me.

First, I picked up some 1.5" x 1.25" protoboard from a local shop. I got ones where none of the pads are connected by default:
SpoilerShow
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Next, I laid the conductive pad on it and traced around it.
Then cut the board along your traces. Make sure to leave a little room on all sides for gluing it on later. Put your conductive pad back on the side WITHOUT the pads, and flip the whole thing over. Using a sharpie, mark a spot in between 4 pads like so:

0 - copper pad
* - Sharpie mark

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 *0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 *0 0 0 0
0* 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0
0* 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 *0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 *0 0 0 0



Now we can add the copper tape. You can use whatever pattern works for you, but I like the one I've come up with. It uses a common ground wire for all the buttons reducing my wire count. You're going to want to make sure there is a small gap between your pieces of tape so as not to bridge any connections.
Once you're done, it's time to solder! Strip your wires and put them up through a hole not covered by tape, but close to the piece to solder onto.
Good luck and happy building!!

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Eccho
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by Eccho » Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:17 am

This is so nice! Simple and straight forward!

Gree1021
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by Gree1021 » Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:01 am

Could you take a photo of the inside of the raspberry pi so I can see where to attach the screen and raspberry pi to the mintypi.

Gree1021
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by Gree1021 » Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:06 am

Could you also post a picture of the bottom of the proto board when it is all finished.

ICMF
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by ICMF » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:15 am

Gree1021 wrote:
Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:01 am
Could you take a photo of the inside of the raspberry pi
It's an open board. There is no inside.

As for your question, you need to research.

https://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3455

Justarandompineapple
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by Justarandompineapple » Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:13 am

How do you connect it to a raspberry pi

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rodocop
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by rodocop » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:45 pm

Justarandompineapple wrote:
Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:13 am
How do you connect it to a raspberry pi
Solder the wires direct to the pi's gpios and use adafruits retrogame script to map them.

Derpatello_
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Re: Making your own button PCBs with copper tape and protoboard!

Post by Derpatello_ » Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:13 pm

Could someone make a schematic of where the wires should go through?

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