Now to begin mounting all of the parts in the case. If you already have the Feather M0 BLE inserted into the TFT Board, you might want to remove it until you get the TFT mounted. Mount the TFT display into the front part of the case using 4 screws and nuts. 2.5 mm screws work best. If you do not have the proper size screws, you could also glue the board in place using hot glue or E6000 glue. Make sure that the USB connector on the Feather board is at the top of the case so that it can be accessed through the area of the door in the case.
After mounting, press the Feather M0 BLE board onto the TFT display. The socket on the TFT display is especially shallow, so the board will not go in all the way. Make sure you have it in sufficiently that all the pins make good contact. See the image below.
Mount the three AT jacks in the side of the case and secure them with the nut that comes with the jacks. Connect the wires from the jacks to the GND and A0, A1, and A2 pins of the TFT board.
Solder a green ground wire about 3" long to the center top terminal of the 2.1 mm barrel jack. Position the jack into its receptacle in the case and secure it with glue as seen in the image below.
Connect the 4400mAh Li-Ion battery to the PowerBoost board using the built-in JST connector. Position the PowerBoost in the end of the case with the component side down. There are two plastic pins which insert into the mounting holes on either side of the micro USB jack. When we put the lid on the case, it will hold the Power Boost securely in place. Secure the battery in position in the case using tape or a very small amount of hot glue. Do not use CA glue or other permanent glues because you will eventually need to replace the battery. It should be very close to the jacks because you will need to leave an empty space on the other side for the T-nut which will extend down from the lid.
Now connect the red USB wire from the PowerBoost to the top rear terminal of the barrel jack. Trim the USB wire to an appropriate length and solder it in place. See the image below.
Position the IR board in the upper left corner of the case. There are two pins in the case that fit into the mounting holes. The yellow wire from the IR board is going to plug into pin 12 just outside the Feather on the TFT display. You should trim it to appropriate length and strip it and plug it into the socket of the TFT. You will recall that we insisted this be a solid wire so that it could plug into the socket.
If you are using the receiver chip you also need to trim the brown +3.3v wire and insert it into the "3v" pin of the TFT near the upper left corner of the Feather board. Also the white receiver wire should go into pin 11 adjacent to the LED wire that we previously plugged into pin 12.
Now it is time to do the final wiring. We need to tie together red 3 power wires. There is one coming from the "5Vo" pin of the Power Boost on the left and 2 wires one from the TFT board underneath the Feather and the other from the IR board. Slide a piece of heat shrink tubing over the wire on the left, splice the three wires together, and then position heat shrink over the joint and shrink it. For the ground wires there are 4 wires to be spliced together. The two on the left extend from the Power Boost and the 2.1 mm barrel jack. The two on the right come from the TFT board underneath the Feather and from the IR board. Again position a piece of heat shrink tubing over 2 of the wires. Connect with four wires together in a splice and slide the heat shrink into place and shrink it. The image below shows the final wiring.
You may want to do some software testing before putting the lid on the case.
Before securing the lid in place, insert the T-nut into the case. You may need to tighten it into place by inserting a 1/4"-20 screw and washer to pull it tight. See the assembly video below for more information. This will provide a 1/4"-20 mounting receptacle to mount the entire unit on a camera mount or other type of bracket using this standard mounting technique.
Here is what the case looks like fully assembled with either M3 or #6-20 screws. After you have programmed the software, you can slide in the sliding door covering the USB port of the Feather. Finally optionally you can glue in place a protective shield over the LEDs to protect them from getting bumped around.
Page last edited March 08, 2024
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