A few weeks ago, I showed my prototype on the breadboard. After that, I converted it to a PCB and ordered it from China. It was the first time that I ordered an assembled board from China. It was a very great experience to see how easy it is to convert an idea into a prototype.

I also 3D printed a housing. There, the first few layers are printed with transparent filament. After I change it to black for the rest.

One fun fact is that when I ordered the board, I did not have the firmware ready and just tested the basic functions of the hardware. I wrote the firmware afterward and was happy that the circuit worked as expected.

Of course, when I received the board, I immediately spotted some mistakes. Luckily ,they were only cosmetic and in the silkscreen. I put the wrong data code and forgot to mirror on label on the backside.

It is very cool to see how many steps and tools it needs – but also how easy and achievable it is nowadays – to convert any idea into an artifact. The next step is to perform the alpha test.