An idea I've been mulling over... a Teensy protector.

[Dihedral]

Many people who use the teensy are likely to be noob solderers. This would include me if I tried to make a custom build. A microcontroller is 20 quid, so I would be pretty scared of splattering hot solder onto it. So why not have a protector, for a couple of pounds or dollars or whatever, it would snap onto the pins in a similar way to an arduino shield and provide it's own pins to solder onto, so if you screw up you just pull it off and pop on a new one. I'm not sure what the construction of this device would be but I'd like to hear your views.

[neverused]

Anything reliable would require soldering, but you could solder in female headers to make it more like an arduino.

[Dihedral]

Anything reliable would require soldering, but you could solder in female headers to make it more like an arduino.

That's an interesting idea - not sure what the use of female headers would be though. I think it could stay in place without soldering if it was tight enough - maybe some sort of clip mechanism...

[neverused]

Clips will be a mechanical connection which would tend to stress the pcb and solder pads. For long term use it would be fairly non-ideal

[MOZ]

There's been a few Teensy shields that were made, but all required soldering, the advantage was that you would solder the Teensy to the shild once and you could solder-desolder the shield without harming the Teensy.

[Dihedral]

There's been a few Teensy shields that were made, but all required soldering, the advantage was that you would solder the Teensy to the shild once and you could solder-desolder the shield without harming the Teensy.

This seems ideal - still in keeping with the original idea as I would much rather solder one or two joints to my expensive teensy than twenty joints.

[Findecanor]

PRJC sells the Teensy 2.0 with pins installed, sockets and breadboard.
Instead of breadboard, you could use a Trip-Pad stripboard for something more permanent.
If you solder the sockets and the rest before you push the Teensy into the socket then you wouldn't risk damaging the microcontroller when you are soldering.

The drawback is of course that you won't be able to use the seven pins that are not the long edges. However Vcc and GND are duplicated on the long edges and you could use the button instead of RST, which leaves only D5, D4, E6 and F5 unusable.

[suicidal_orange]

As a relatively novice solderer I would say it's much easier to solder a row of pins to a PCB than to solder wire, especially stranded wire.  Assuming the female sockets also have stiff pins and come in strips anyone learning to solder needs to have the skill and equipment to be able to solder them.

Then you could have a "disposable" shield on top but it would add significant height to the controller (not good for making a slim keyboard) so I'd suggest a breakout board would be better.  But then you'd need some connectors between the two and that means more soldering!

Perhaps the kit could come with two "shields" (one for each side of the Teensy) that have 90° female sockets and 90° pin strips to solder to the Teensy?  Then you could get replacement "shields" cheaper as you might only mess up one side.  This has the added bonus that you don't have to undo all the working connections on the other side

[Dihedral]

As a relatively novice solderer I would say it's much easier to solder a row of pins to a PCB than to solder wire, especially stranded wire.  Assuming the female sockets also have stiff pins and come in strips anyone learning to solder needs to have the skill and equipment to be able to solder them.

Then you could have a "disposable" shield on top but it would add significant height to the controller (not good for making a slim keyboard) so I'd suggest a breakout board would be better.  But then you'd need some connectors between the two and that means more soldering!

Perhaps the kit could come with two "shields" (one for each side of the Teensy) that have 90° female sockets and 90° pin strips to solder to the Teensy?  Then you could get replacement "shields" cheaper as you might only mess up one side.  This has the added bonus that you don't have to undo all the working connections on the other side

I'm not getting what you're saying here... What do you mean by 90 degree female and 90 degree make. Also wouldn't two shields worsen the height problem more?

[suicidal_orange]

I'm not getting what you're saying here... What do you mean by 90 degree female and 90 degree make. Also wouldn't two shields worsen the height problem more?

Instead of putting the shield on top you put it next to the Teensy so the pins are bent at right angles (sticking out sideways) and the sockets are the same so the PCBs join along the long edge.  Perhaps a terrible paint pic will help )

[Dihedral]

I'm not getting what you're saying here... What do you mean by 90 degree female and 90 degree make. Also wouldn't two shields worsen the height problem more?

Instead of putting the shield on top you put it next to the Teensy so the pins are bent at right angles (sticking out sideways) and the sockets are the same so the PCBs join along the long edge.  Perhaps a terrible paint pic will help )

Ah makes sense now. That seems like a pretty solid idea actually.

[Dihedral]

Where would the protector be soldered onto the teensy?

[fohat.digs]

If you bought the Teensy "with pins" and used this type of cables, then you could just use the soft foam rectangle and/or some fabric such as felt to make a "sandwich" or wrapping bundle around it.

More ghetto, but very cheap and easy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40PCS-Dupont-wire-20cm-Cables-Line-Jumper-1p-1p-pin-Connector-Female-to-Female-/221480809935?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339148f5cf

[Hypersphere]

If you bought the Teensy "with pins" and used this type of cables, then you could just use the soft foam rectangle and/or some fabric such as felt to make a "sandwich" or wrapping bundle around it.

More ghetto, but very cheap and easy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40PCS-Dupont-wire-20cm-Cables-Line-Jumper-1p-1p-pin-Connector-Female-to-Female-/221480809935?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339148f5cf

Yep. That's exactly what I did for my first USB conversion.

BTW, when I read the title of this thread, I initially thought of a protector against reversing the connections between GND and +5V, thus frying the Teensy.

[neverused]

Look into pogo pins as well, they basically push against the contact with a spring loaded pin.

[suicidal_orange]

Where would the protector be soldered onto the teensy?

I guess this was aimed at my side idea?  If so it wouldn't be soldered, you'd have to solder sockets on one side and pins to the other then they would pressure fit together (like breadboard)  Thinking about it sockets are probably more expensive so I'd put them on the Teensy and the cheaper pins on the protectors.

[Dihedral]

Where would the protector be soldered onto the teensy?

I guess this was aimed at my side idea?  If so it wouldn't be soldered, you'd have to solder sockets on one side and pins to the other then they would pressure fit together (like breadboard)  Thinking about it sockets are probably more expensive so I'd put them on the Teensy and the cheaper pins on the protectors.

I guess you'd have to prototype to ensure that something like that would be stable; then again, breadboards hold things pretty firmly.

[suicidal_orange]

I guess you'd have to prototype to ensure that something like that would be stable; then again, breadboards hold things pretty firmly.

I've just found these pins which led me to this datasheet which has male and female part numbers depending how many pins you want - they have locking tabs so should be more secure than breadboard.

I'll look for a stockist without a crazy high minimum order later but the UK probably isn't the best place to do a group buy from!

[SpAmRaY]

There's been a few Teensy shields that were made, but all required soldering, the advantage was that you would solder the Teensy to the shild once and you could solder-desolder the shield without harming the Teensy.

This is what MOZ was referring to https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45587.0

[Dihedral]

I guess you'd have to prototype to ensure that something like that would be stable; then again, breadboards hold things pretty firmly.

I've just found these pins which led me to this datasheet which has male and female part numbers depending how many pins you want - they have locking tabs so should be more secure than breadboard.

I'll look for a stockist without a crazy high minimum order later but the UK probably isn't the best place to do a group buy from!

Are you referring to the 'PC Board Connector' Items?


I had a look, and I found this: https://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/HEADRAFS8pr.shtml
Not locking, but might also do the job.

[suicidal_orange]

Are you referring to the 'PC Board Connector' Items?

Yeah, the datasheet has pins and connectors that lock together.  Not sure where you can buy them though...

I had a look, and I found this: https://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/HEADRAFS8pr.shtml
Not locking, but might also do the job.

Those were what I was thinking of (didn't you recognise them from my pic? ) ) - cheap and cheerful, and as secure as breadboard but if you expressed an interest in something better.  I don't think there will be much sideways stress so they should be fine.

[Dihedral]

Are you referring to the 'PC Board Connector' Items?

Yeah, the datasheet has pins and connectors that lock together.  Not sure where you can buy them though...

I had a look, and I found this: https://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/HEADRAFS8pr.shtml
Not locking, but might also do the job.

Those were what I was thinking of (didn't you recognise them from my pic? ) ) - cheap and cheerful, and as secure as breadboard but if you expressed an interest in something better.  I don't think there will be much sideways stress so they should be fine.

Yeah I knew you were thinking of them... they seem like the best thing for the job.

You could cover the side bits with 2 of the 6 pin ones (https://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/HEADRAFS6pr.shtml)
I don't think the end bit is needed, as all the General Purpose pins are on the side.

[suicidal_orange]

Yeah I knew you were thinking of them... they seem like the best thing for the job.

You could cover the side bits with 2 of the 6 pin ones (https://www.futurlec.com/Connectors/HEADRAFS6pr.shtml)
I don't think the end bit is needed, as all the General Purpose pins are on the side.

Yeah or you could make them in 6 pin sections - even less to throw away/redo when you go wrong and you can use a 3rd protector to access most of the pins on a 2++

[neverused]

Those will require soldering, are you looking to avoid that?

As a crazy idea, very tiny bolts/nuts through the holes could work. Then again I'd just buy the one with pins installed and use a female header.

[Dihedral]

Those will require soldering, are you looking to avoid that?

As a crazy idea, very tiny bolts/nuts through the holes could work. Then again I'd just buy the one with pins installed and use a female header.

Would they require soldering? Wouldn't they be firm enough without it?

[suicidal_orange]

Those will require soldering, are you looking to avoid that?

Everyone is going to have to solder something to use a Teensy and it doesn't get any easier than a solid row of pins that you can't put in the wrong place

As a crazy idea, very tiny bolts/nuts through the holes could work. Then again I'd just buy the one with pins installed and use a female header.

Interesting, you could wrap the wire round under the bolthead then tighten it and go solderless?  I wonder how much tiny bolts cost...

*returns to work after Christmas break, to do uninteresting stuff *

[neverused]

You probably could get some pins to make contact if they are pitched at the correct angle,but the simple fact is that solder is likely going to be the best way to avoid ruining your teensy.