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RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

shabaz — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:56:16 GMT

Finally the board is in the enclosure.. and I learned that the board outline could be extended slightly in all directions. There's no easy way to screw in the board, because the holes are too shallow (they are just 2.5 mm deep), so I had to use glue (I used UV epoxy).

End panels:

Another thing I've learned; it would be good to use a right-angle button for BOOTSEL, so that a pinhole could be added to the end panel design, to make it easier to upgrade the firmware. Currently I would have to unscrew the case, or drill a hole in plastic, which isn't convenient.

I need to modify the main PCB anyway, to add wireless to it. However for the current boards, I can use a daughter board, since the connections are on pin headers.

RE: Adding Wireless Capability to Custom RP2040/RP2350 Projects: Pi Radio Module 2 - Anyone tried it?

shabaz — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:26:22 GMT

Here's an attempt (the link to the KiCad files and Gerbers has been placed in the blog). The board size is 50 x 23 mm, which costs £6.67 for ten PCBs (I will populate these by hand, the parts are large and easy to solder), including tax/shipping. A combined board with this and CC1101 would be good, I might try that at some later point, since I can see use-cases for both together.

RE: DMX Tester: Building a Lighting Controller and Test Tool

DAB — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 20:56:22 GMT

Very cool.

RE: DMX Tester: Building a Lighting Controller and Test Tool

shabaz — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:07:24 GMT

The code is now improved, and there is an explanation of all the main code functions, in the README.

The user menu is quite nice, the AI implemented a command history (just press the up arrow key to see previous commands) and also allows for editing within the current line using the left/right cursor keys. I might reuse this in other projects that require a menu too.

Also, there's now a Python program called control_demo.py that will just cycle through colors using channels 1-3, it should be compatible with simple RGB DMX lamps either directly, or with a slight tweak.

The program works by prefixing the commands with "$" and the firmware recognised that, and suppresses verbose output, so it becomes like a simple machine interface.

This was just supposed to be a quick experiment, but I think it's almost a practical solution now, at least for some DMX use-cases.

RE: DMX Tester: Building a Lighting Controller and Test Tool

veluv01 — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:29:43 GMT

Interesting Design! Adding the RM2, makes the controller more versatile. All that's left is adding an enclosure for the PCB![emoticon:c28b2e4cc20f4ba28d1befdba6bed29c]

RE: DMX Tester: Building a Lighting Controller and Test Tool

geralds — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:26:58 GMT

Hi [mention:b0bc65b9ecdc4307bd967592f00e340a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]

Fantastic! Thank you so much for the very informative descriptions.
I've downloaded the files now and will study them and adapt them for my applications.
Great!

My application what I have is "Smart Furniture".
On Wednesday, I'm getting a Highboard dresser delivered with built-in lighting.
I'll then install an electronic door opener. This will be remote-/sensor-controlled.

Best Regards
Gerald
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RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

shabaz — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:12:15 GMT

Time for an example project using this custom board; it is written up here:

(+) DMX Tester: Building a Lighting Controller and Test Tool - element14 Community

The board is used just like any standard Pi Pico board, i.e. the BOOTSEL button is used to transfer firmware. The board can run MicroPython, CircuitPython or any C/C++ code just as if it were a Pi Pico. For the example project, I used the C/C++ SDK (the steps can be followed from here: The C/C++ SDK - Raspberry Pi Documentation although my PC had it set up manually, which is a lengthier process, than just following the official Pi Pico documentation).

RE: How I Built a Raspberry Pi 3 SDR Radio Ground Station with OpenWebRX

Qbit — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:22:17 GMT

This is a fantastic write-up! OpenWebRX is such a powerful tool for making SDR setups accessible over a local network or the internet without clunky desktop software client dependencies.

RE: How I Built a Raspberry Pi 3 SDR Radio Ground Station with OpenWebRX

DAB — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 18:19:11 GMT

Well done.

I never got into amateur radio, but in Tech School I did get a 2nd class FCC license, which got me an A for the class.

RE: How I Built a Raspberry Pi 3 SDR Radio Ground Station with OpenWebRX

kmikemoo — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 03:33:31 GMT

[mention:582dda5437b14e44bfc66281f1ba48be:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] Nice setup. Welcome to Amateur Radio. You may wind up modifying your A/B switch again. By grounding the unused input, you protect it from any active input transmissions. There are always trade-offs in radio.

RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

meera_hussien — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 03:20:13 GMT

Great work [mention:b0bc65b9ecdc4307bd967592f00e340a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] . Your work always inspires me.

RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

shabaz — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 02:05:09 GMT

Silkscreen is free on PCBs, so I used the KiCad Image Converter app a bit more.. the diagram shows how to orient the connector (AI generated image).

RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

shabaz — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:22:31 GMT

Time to work on the enclosure; I really like the Multicomp G403 enclosures, and the PCB had been designed to fit that. The only minor annoyance with that enclosure is that the end panels are not a simple shape.

With KiCad, it's not too difficult to create end panels. With calipers and a mobile phone, the procedure I tried was:

(1) Take a photo of the end panel against a contrasting background. I used my mobile phone camera, but it's best to keep it some distance from the target, and zoom in (rather than bring the camera up close and zoom out), to reduce distortion which would not be good!

(2) Use MS Paint, or PowerPoint, or any other image manipulation software, to first straighten the image if it's necessary, then crop it to the smallest rectangle that will fit the edges of the shape, and then "poster-ize" or do whatever you can, to make the edges very clear.

(3) Use the calipers and measure the end panel piece, to the outermost edges, horizontally and vertically, and make a note of those two values.

(4) Use KiCad's Image Converter app. Set the image size to precisely what was measured in step 3! Then pick a temporary layer of your choice, and Export to Clipboard.

(5) Go into the Footprint Editor and create a new footprint. Now just set the grid to something fine (like 0.1 mm) and use the line tool, and trace out half the shape. Then, group it, copy it, and then flip it horizontally, and then drag it so that it connects precisely. Ungroup, and then change the lines (using the Properties panel) to become 0.05mm Edge.Cuts lines instead. You can now check with the 3D viewer, that all the lines did indeed connect, such that the Edge.Cuts layer becomes a complete board outline. You can now delete the content off the temporary image layer that was used.

RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

DAB — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:33:09 GMT

Very good post.

RE: Custom Manufactured RP2040 Boards, Part 3 - Final Results

wolfgangfriedrich — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:35:21 GMT

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:def79b21-95e9-45be-8f82-3cd925b5dcc9:type=text&text=others%20looking%20to%20make%20custom%20RP2040%20boards%20too%20%28and%20it%20would%20be%20super-interesting%20to%20hear%20if%20anyone%20plans%20to%20do%20something%20similar%29]

As you have asked, I in fact did 2 custom RP2040/2350 boards already, with similar success. If you pay attention to a good layout, they just work and it is very quick to get to blinky.

The boards are a simple Pico2 (RP2350A) type board in m.2 E-key form factor and a more involved board with a RP2040 and a VLSI VS23S040 video chip for 4 composite video outputs with some higher voltage input pins and power out.

I wrote about the beginnings of the m.2 board here:

P42 Pico M.2: A RPI Pico RP2040 board in new form factor. - element14 Community

and here:

RP2040 RP2350 M.2 Pico | Hackaday.io

And the video board here:

RPi Pico Video4 | Hackaday.io

Details for both boards on Github: wolfgangfriedrich · GitHub

Thanks for the reminder to keep updating my documentation.