LeoDJ, 2 months ago

insert standard run-of-the-mill PCB assembly steps here
Paste, place, reflow. Paste, place, reflow. Solder the rest of the components manually.

It went pretty normal, although the assembly order of the straddle-mount USB-C connector needed a bit of thought ^^
I ended up with this procedure:

• Reflow the top side without the connector
• Place it after the paste of the bottom side and put flux on the top side contacts
• Reflow bottom side with hot air

#DongleHiderPlus

PCB on a hotplate, reflowing
The finished PCB with the donge-to-be-connected beside it
The finished PCB with everything assembled

LeoDJ, 2 months ago

And with that, the #DongleHiderPlus is done!

It features room for 2-3 skinned dongles while still providing an external USB A 3 port.

I tested it and it works like a charm* !
The receiver and different USB 2 and even USB 3 devices worked on the first attempt.

Massive props to @frameworkcomputer for making the whole development process very easy, with all needed information already public and even supplying a base 3D-printing-ready #ExpansionCard model.

#Framework16 #FrameworkLaptop

The finished expansion card installed in my Framework 16 Laptop
A USB tree view of an internal Logitech Unifying dongle and externally plugged in USB 2.0 stick
A USB tree view of an internal Logitech Unifying dongle and externally plugged in USB 3 card reader