Building Jaluino Medium board

"Where can I get Jaluino Medium ?"

Before explaining how to build Jaluino Medium board, one may say: "I don't want to build it, where can I get it ?". Good question ! There's currently no way to get Jaluino Medium other than building it.

In other words, you can't buy a PCB, nor a kit, nor a ready-to-use board, there's no such things to sell... Why ? Because most of this is still very new. In order to buy such a board, a big enough user base is needed. So ? Well, if you're interested in buying a PCB, kit or board, please share your interest with Jaluino Group¹ ! By collecting such message, we, Jaluino Team, will be able to have a realistic overview of the need, and may then providing PCB, kit or even the board itself, for a decent price.

Until that time comes, you'll have to build the board. This kind of means it would better if you've already experienced PCB creation, not a pre-requisite, but almost to be honest. Fortunately, Jaluino Medium is designed to be easily built, at home, by average user. Nothing difficult here, it's mostly about having the right tools.

Building the PCB

Building the PCB can be done in different ways, depending on available tools, time, budget, easiness,... One easy way, and probably the cheapest one related to good results it provides, is to create PCB using toner transfert technique. The idea is to print the mirrored PCB on a paper, then tranferring it a copper board, most of the time using an iron (the same used for your shirts... well... maybe not the same !). PCB tracks are thus sticked to the copper board. Put it in echant, and you'll get your PCB. Most variations come from the different papers used.

Figure 1. Jaluino Medium PCB and component view

Labels (bonus)

When building Jaluino Medium board, you want it to be as beautiful as possible. That's normal. In order to add a nice finished and polished look, you can add labels on the component side. Before soldering components, think about it, after it'll be too late... or you'll have to unsolder all components and possibly damage them.

Figure 2. Jaluino Medium labels

Labels can be printed on paper, and sticked onto the component side. If you decide to go this way (which I strongly suggest if you want to impress your wife, friends, co-workers, dog, cat, yourself), follow the guideline here. (TODO: link to "Put labels on your board to make it awesome" tutorial).

Figure 3. Awesome results :)

Soldering components

Once your PCB is ready, use your faithful solder iron, and start soldering components. The following list shows all required components:

Almost all components look like this, to give a rough idea (some are missing, like 3.3V regulator)

Figure 4. Rough overview of Jaluino Medium components