@ ransomhall
Agreed. Very exciting. Reminds me a bit of the feeling I get from welding. Love working with my hands. Even though I love software and flipping bits, manipulating real-world physical objects is just…different. And given that PCB design lets me mix the two…I’m hooked.
Next thing you know I’ll be buying laser cutters and 3d printers. 
It’s so the high-speed electrons don’t run off the corner 
What I really want is a CNC that can cut PCBs. Being able to “print” proto PCBs would just be awesome.
You mean like this? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/977338529/mezzomill-carves-circuits-from-cad Doesn’t look good for funding this project, but maybe you can help.
Yep, something like that would be perfect. The price just needs to go down A LOT before it will make sense…
@ ransomhall: Thanks, I will get in touch with them. I actually am a sole proprietor myself and a registered business so I guess it should be straightforward - cheers!
@ rossman - i was able to register on their site as a business and order samples straight away. No need to be vetted.
Oh nice, thanks again for all the info!
MakeBread v1.0 (breadboard module) will have a first run of 6 modules via DorkbotPcb. The finished design is with the SM IDC header (not TH as I had originally said it would be).
Let me know if you want one. Seems Laen is behind on getting these processed, so I have no idea when they’ll be ready.
sure, count me in!
@ ransomhall
Count me in…I’ll even trade you an IR LED Array module for one, once I get my PCBs (and verify that they actually work). 
BTW - I’m assuming from the way you phrased that that you emailed Laen/Neal, and have not gotten a response? Might be worth considering BatchPCB as a backup. I was impressed with how easy it was to use the Eagle CAM job they provide to create the Gerbers necessary for upload:
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/BeginningEmbedded/9-EaglePCBs/sfe-gerb274x.cam
There’s a nice tutorial on preparing Gerbers from an Eagle board here:
One other quick note on BatchPCB and Gerbers from Eagle. If you get the error message:
That probably means that you included extra files in your ZIP that aren’t needed by BatchPCB. When I used the SparkFun CAM job, it added files with a .dri and .gpi extension, both of which were in lowercase (vs. the rest of the extensions, which were all uppercase). If you include just the files with uppercase extensions, you should be good to go.
Note that you may also have to tweak which layers are visible before you process the CAM job to ensure that everything shows up properly. For example, I had to turn on the dimension layer for the top silkscreen, since it wasn’t on by default, and BatchPCB (according to their docs) uses the silkscreen outline to determine where to rout the outside of the board.
@ devhammer - definitely down for a barter. I’ve now got a couple of dedicated syma 107g’s ready to test it with 8)
all interested parties - this module will be in kit form, meaning it will also have the (unsoldered) Schottky diode, male header pins, and a SM IDC. If you already have the IDC, let me know, as I would like to hang on to as many of my samples as possible. Buying these in bulk is really not an option for me (yet!).
I’ll take one if any available, and as long as shipping them out isn’t an inconvenience. Will pay for whatever costs are involved of course. I just don’t want to put anyone out!
Wow! Only one left (2 for me) and you don’t even know the price!
I still have time to add more to the order if the last one goes… it will give me chance to tweak the silkscreen a bit. I might start a new thread with a better title to rustle the bushes.
@ rossman - where are you? If your comfortable doing so, add your location to your profile. It’s always nice to know where fellow FEZzers are from. I can ship either US Post or UPS - whatever delivery speed you 're willing to pay for.
@ ransom - I’ll take at least one. If you add to the order, I’ll take four. I have my own IDCs.
Thanks!
I’m in Toronto, Canada. But have family in the USA - VT - that could accept on my behalf if international shipping is an issue
I will make sure I update my profile here!
Ugh, double post, sorry folks.
@ rossman - VT, eh? Anywhere in the Burlington area? Check my profile to see why International shipping is not an issue. It just costs more.
My wife’s sister is down in Middlebury, only about a half hour south of Burlington! Not too far!