February 5, 2012
Description
This is a modified v1.1 Thingomatic Heater Board which has a tab with through-hole pads for soldering and securing the Molex KK 0.156" harness connector as well as the motor connector. This provides a much sturdier mounting point for the wiring connectors, making it much harder to break the connectors off along with their pads. Additionally, this layout has no vias and uses wider traces to the motor connector and to the SMD components. (The heater traces are the same widths and left unchanged other than the removal of the vias.)
In the v1.1 r0 version, the connectors are soldered to SMD pads and accidentally bending the Molex connector up or down can leverage its pads right off of the board.
While this PCB addresses the mechanical problem with the attachment of the connectors, it does not address the problem associated with overheating of the plastics in the connector shrouds or their mating plugs -- particularly the HEATER- and +12V wires on the wiring harness. To address that problem, instead solder some teflon jacketed wires to the pads (v1.1 r0) or the through holes (v1.1 r2) and then make a pigtail connector or similar. Teflon jacketed wire can take the heat and if you run several inches of it, it should be enough to dissipate the heat before mating with the wiring harness. You can get a small spool of the stuff at a good price in the US from bulkwire.com; the through holes for the Molex connector will easily accommodate 14 gauge wire.
Note that the tab is 10.81 mm (0.43") deep and as such will add that much additional length to that side of your heater board. [The tab seen in the pictures is 2.54 mm (0.1") longer than the one in the attached Eagle and Gerber files.]
BTW, there is no "r1" that I'm aware of. For whatever reason, I accidentally produced my board with "r2" on it. Cest la vie.
A BatchPCB design is available at
http://www.batchpcb.com/product_info.php?products_id=78232&check=38563f546fc5198d95b69e6810006a8e
**NOTE: if you are looking for Gerber files for the original Thingomatic Heater Board 1.1, see Thing 16459,
License:
GNU - GPL
dnewman
