On December 31st I decided to go for it! I ordered 5 PCB’s through JLCPCB (a PCB-prototyping company in China with whom I had previous experience for a school project). On websites like these, where you can basically get any PCB-design that you either made yourself or of which you got the design files (like in this case) manufactured for relatively cheap. There are some caviats however.
The first one being that the minimum amount to order is 5 pieces. I decided (on advice of the guide on the InputLabs website) to get the top SMD-components pre-placed by JLCPCB. Here’s where the other caviat comes in: if you want something like this, the minimum amount of PCB’s on which you want your components placed is 2. So also double the cost of components. Well, at least I have another board if I decide to make a second controller.
Next up, I ordered a small amount (125g) of Protopasta Conductive PLA from Filament2Print, a Spanish company that was one of the only ones to have this stuff available in Europe in smaller amounts. Due to it being a specialty material of which I needed to print only a single part, I didn’t need a standard 1kg spool (which did cost around 80-90 euros…), so I was glad I could find this smaller amount.
I ordered the other components that needed to be sothered on the PCB through Mouser, which was one of the only companies that had every specific part. This did come with a flat 20 euro shipping fee though…
Finally, I ordered 2 Raspberry Pico’s through Kiwi Electronics, a Dutch webshop that has lots of stuff regarding Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc.
While I wait on the stuff, I can already start prototyping the 3D-printable parts. Will be continued!
