Detailed description of the components
MAKERbuino’s PCB
PCB stands for printed circuit board.
Basically, this is a board with some copper traces and some other components like
protective paint and insulating material.
Copper layers on the board form traces that connect various MAKERbuino’s
electronic components (e.g. they connect the microcontroller to the screen) so that
they can work together as an electronic device.
This is an eq
uivalent to your PC’s motherboard.
Laser Cut Acrylic
Casing
MAKERbuino’s circuitry is protected by a casing made out of laser cut plastic
(they’re made on a CNC laser cutting machine).
The casing consists of 3 pieces (see the picture). Your MAKERbuino’s
casing is
crystal clear, we’ve painted the board red in the picture for better visibility.
One piece is used to protect the front (top) side of your MAKERbuino device and
the other two pieces protect MAKERbuino’s back.
Everything is stacked one on another using nuts, bolts and plastic spacers. This
style of casings is called “the sandwich design”.
Nuts, bolts, spacers
These basic mechanical components are needed for fixating the screen and the casing
to the circuit board.
M3 or M2 in the name of the sc
rews indicates that their shaft’s diameter is 3 mm or 2
mm accordingly.
Li-Po battery
The rechargeable battery serves as MAKERbuino’s main power supply.
650mAh is more than enough for several hours of intense gaming and powering all
sorts of power-hungry expansion modules (like GPS receivers, motors, wifi modules,
etc.).
In case you didn’t know, “Li
-
Po” in the name of the battery indicates its structure and
what materials it uses to store electrical energy (Li-Po stands for Lithium Polymer).
It comes with the male JST power connector (the white connector at the end of the
red-black cable) that is then connected to the female JST connector soldered directly
to the board.
Electronics 101: the positive pole of any electrical power source (+) is usually
marked with a red wire. The negative pole of any electrical power source (-) is
usually marked with a black wire (in some cases green and brown color is used too).
