TR-595E: MOD01 THE DECALS - Piscean Works

HOW TO SPOT A TRICORDER

When you spot a Next Gen Tricorder, there are a few very recognisable features that stands out. The first would be the line if eight front green sensor arrays. They have an animated sweeping motion starting from the centre to the sides. The next would be the four function indicators, ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA and DELTA. And finally, the red EMRG button. In that World, you can perform a two-time emergency non-error checking data dump to the Ship. Then the re-chargable Sarium crystals becomes exhausted.

THE NEED TO MODIFY

To be honest, there is no need to modify the TR-595E as it is. But it would be fun if I could be carrying this around whenever I can. So I want the above features to be present. Or a least some of them anyway. Mr. Doucette, who has kindly uploaded all his files to his Github Repository, allows anyone to make use of them. I realised, suddenly, a whole new World opened up. It’s not a Ego trip nor some one-upmanship and I have to thank Nicholas for this such rare opportunity. Because I really learned a lot from his circuit designs.

THE LOWER INTERFACE

Let’s start with this part where it has nine LEDs. But if you look at Mr. Duchette’s original circuits, only six LEDs would light up at any one time. Apart from the LCD screen, this would be the TR-595E’s unique feature. The only Official Tricorder to have flashing controls would be the OSX.

There are a lot of holes and windows on a Tricorder body which is for LEDs to shine through. The resin body would naturally act as light-blocks for the LEDs. All you need to do is just place the sticker on top of the surface. So, in order to modify the TR-595E, I would need to modify the Decals and also the PCBs.

ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA & DELTA

Where the four green LEDs are concerned, Mr. Duchette did not label them in his design. Using Inkscape, I have named them as ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA and DELTA. I want to do this because the four sequecning LEDs are there in the MkVII, MkIX and MkX.

Yes, I succumbed to my emotions and labeled the four green lights.
This is the start to my downhill journey of any projects which I cannot finish…

LIBRARY

I am going to light up the Library button although it is not canon. I have some white LEDs which blinks. I am going to light up the buttons in the Library section. In normal mode, the yellow Library_A button would light up. When I switch the Library, the Library_B Button;s white LED would flash at 1.5Hz.

GEO, MET, BIO

In the decals file where the Com Transmission section is, I will replace them with the GEO, MET, BIO buttons. The lights for these would be in yellow, following the flip Tricorders. It will be a challenge as I will have to cut out the three rectangle holes manually. I will design a jumper in the PCB to stop the three LEDs lighting up as an option. I have created the two different decals for this.

PCB RE-DESIGN

I want to add more LEDs to the bottom interface and, at the same time, change some LEDs too. Mr. Duchette has designed the decals to match the LED positons. To test that theory, I reconstructed Nicholas’s original PCB in EaglePCB software. Then exported the PCB file in PDF format and imported it into Inkscape. From there, Inkscape confirms the theory and it allows me to make an almost accurate measurement which lets me re-adjust the LED positions in EaglePCB. So far, this theory worked and I can say, the technique is quite accurate.

HOW DID I DO THIS?

Once again, here are the steps to re-create the PCB but with my own circuits:
1. In the EaglePCB software, create a new Project and start with a fresh schematics. It does not matter at this moment but you can just place any component (OK, let’s use a 080 LED from the LED section of the Component Library) from the Components Library.

If you start with this route, you cannot manually add nor delete any components or tracks in the Board Layout section. You can only do this at the Schematics Section.

So, from the Library, go to the LED section and select the 0805 LED component.
Then place it on the middle of the screen.

2. Use the shortcut [Alt-F]+[W] for EaglePCB to switch over to the Layout board. As this is the first time, the software would ask if you want to create the board from schematics, just answer YES. After that, the section opens up and you will see your 0805 LED component at the bottom left, which you can ignore for now.

As long as both sections are perfectly synchronized, any changes in the Schematic will affect the Board Layout and vice versa.
The 0805 SMD LED is at the bottom left. Leave it alone.

3. From this section, import the original PCB Gerber Files into the EaglePCB 7.77 software.

At this point, what you need is the original PCB’s dimensions (Layer 20) and also the Position of the LEDs.

Import the file by going to **FILE->IMPORT->GERBER**
Select the files you need, which in this case, is Arky’s Lower Interface PCB

There are about 10 Gerber Files which you need to import separately.

The Steps to import the files are very important:
1. Select the Gerber file to be imported.
2. Select which EaglePCB layer that Gerber file is supposed to go to. But remember, for Profile.gbr, you need to import it to Layer20: Dimensions. This is very important if you are to get the boards done at JLCPCB.
3. One last step is to make sure the Units are in mm and not inches.
4. Once the layers are set, you can import. It will take a few seconds depending on the complexity of the board.

IMPORTING GERBER FILES LAYER BY LAYER

4. If you are familiar with the circuit, you can now draw it up first in the Schematics section and EaglePCB will ‘prepare’ components and routing lines on the PCB for you. If, not, you can go to the next step. But for me, I wanted to see how familiar I am with the 555/4017 circuit. You can also refer to Nicholas’s Circuit diagram to help you in this section. Do note that the LEDs used in the original PCB are 0805 SMDs.

At this stage, the most important thing is to get the position of the LEDs right, using the Gerber Files.

This is what happens when you miss out step #2 and imported all 10 Gerber files into a single layer, i.e the Top Copper Layer

This is how the lower Interface PCB looked like when the import process is done correctly.
You can now create your own circuit and align new LEDs with the decals.

So, you need to make sure all the LEDs line up with the decals, which I have to assume at the point, is in perfect alignment with the 3D part.

5. Place the SMD LEDs on top of the original PCB design. If you have not created the circuit, you will see a lot of un-routed yellow lines. This is also the same if you have created the circuit and did not undergo the auto-routing function. Just hide them temporarily and export the newly re-constructed board as PDF in 1:1 scale.

6. In the Inkscape software, Import the PCB PDF file and then, well, Group the file. On my Inkscape (ver. 1.2) it was easier to see as it becomes a layer.

MEASURING NEW LED POSITIONS

7. Superimpose that layer over the original decals until the original LEDs’s position matches the openings of the decals. It took a lot of time since my PC has too many open Tabs and limited RAM (ha ha). In Inkscape, I used rectangles as rulers and also, one of the PCB’s edges as starting or anchor points. When I got my rectangle lined up, I just read off the length or height measurment. Then I used that information to position the LEDs in EaglePCB.

I wished there is a clearer image of what I am describing but there is none and I am too far ahead into the circuit.
Here, I have anchored the green rectangle and pulled it to the right to match the white rectangle or opening for the new LED. This is an AFTER image because the 0805 LED sits perfectly in the middle of the white rectangle.

8. Pull or push the other end of the rectangle until it touches the openings that you need to ‘measure’ with. You can read the width and height of the block at the top of the Inkscape screen. That is how far I need to re-align the new LEDs to the new holes that I have just created.

And that is how I aligned the new SMD LEDs with the newly modified decals which was for the GEO, MET & BIO buttons.

9. In EaglePCB, re-create the rectangle’s measurement with the software’s lines then line it up from the edge of the PCB. Then, repeat the process (#7-#9) until the new LEDs are in the correct place.

I took the lenght of the green rectangle in Inkscape and created a small thin line in EaglePCB of the same value, then anchored one end to the edge of the board just like in Inkscape. I did the same for measuring the verticle height too. This way, I know roughly where the new decal’s rectangle opening is and I can now align the new LED into it.

10. When you have lined up the LEDs, keep the board’s dimension and lock all the LED’s position in place. If you have not created the circuit (as in connecting all the components) now is the time. Re-create the circuit with the electronic components taken from the Eagle Library. If you have recreated the circuit, this part would be very easy especially when it comes to the auto-routing function. I always do this when Step #9 is really, really, done.

However, when you use the auto-router, it’s programming will not recreate the exact copper tracks like the original. You can do them manually after the auto-router has done its job but it is up to you.

20220607 At the moment, this is image of the PCB layer super-imposed with the modified decals. The four ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA & DELTA lights would have to shift a little to the right as I am using a longer LED (The 020 compared to the original 0805). See the black vertical line on the left? In theory, it means I can expand the PCB board’s width to the left where can insert a LED for the GEO button (top left) and also, re-align the red LED for the ID button at the bottom.

The small SMD LEDs are perfectly aligned with the new decals. The 4 function LEDs have been changed to a longer one and I it moved slightly to the right so that they are more or less centered.

THE FINAL DESIGN

And so, this is more or less the final design of the decals for the TR-595E Tricorder. I want to put this A5 design onto an A4 sheet so you can have spares. I can laser print them with different media such as PVC paper and diffused Plastic sheet.