Snap-O-Lantern Kit Assembly Instructions

INSTRUCTIONS: IN PROGRESS.

Instructions for building the Snap-O-Lantern kit are in progress below and will be completed on Tuesday, October 15.

What's included with the kit?

See the Snap-O-Lantern kit Bill of Materials for a complete list and quantities.

Tools required for assembly

• Small (0 or 00 size) phillips screwdriver
• Soldering Tools
• Pumpkin carving tools

Supplies required for assembly

• A mini pumpkin! Typical mini-pumpkins are 3-4 inches in diameter. Larger pumpkins can be much heavier, and likely will not work with the kit.
• Three AA cells

Assembly procedure

We'll go line by line through the kit components. This guide assumes that you have had some soldering experience. If not, or if it has been a while, you may also want to look at pages 2 and 5-7 of the Bulbdial clock assembly instructions, which go over basic tools and technique. And, if you really are a beginner, there are plenty of good tutorials on line, like this one.

Wire up the eyes

You have two pairs of wires, and two orange LEDs. Solder the long lead of the LED to the lighter wire, and the short lead to the darker one. Your wire pair colors may vary, but here, the yellow wire goes to the long lead and the blue one to the short lead. You can trim both the leads (as shown), or leave one long to stick into the top of the pumpkin.

First component on the PCB: Socket

Install the socket, matching the half moon notch in the socket to the shape on the board. Solder the socket in place.

Next, we'll follow along with the circuit diagram as we populate the ATtiny2313 board. The board provides some of the necessary connections, such as pin 20 to power and pin 10 to ground. It also provides prototyping areas for us to hook up the remaining parts to.

Hooking up the resistors and LEDs

Using the first 1K resistor, connect pin 8 (labeled T0/PD4) to the top row of prototyping holes directly below, in the second hole from the chip. Use the second 1K resistor to connect pin 9 (labeled OC0B/T1/PD5) to the second prototyping row below, using the hole closest to the chip.

Connect the lighter wire of your first LED to the upper prototyping row, and the darker wire to ground (pin 10 is conveniently nearby and connected to ground).

Connect the second LED similarly, with the light wire to the second prototyping row and the dark wire to the remaining accessible ground location.

Servo port

Using a zero-ohm jumper, connect the closest hole at pin 12 (labeled PB0/AIN0/PCINT0) to the second prototyping row directly below. Use the next zero-ohm jumper to connect the second hole away from pin 13 (labeled PB1/AIN1/PCINT1) to the top prototyping row below. (These will connect the two range options for the servo motor.)

The third zero-ohm jumper connects the left-most prototyping column to VCC_3 directly to the right. Connect the final jumper from the middle prototyping column to GND_3, also directly to the right.

Finally, install the 6-pin DIL header with one pin in each of the top two prototyping rows and across the first two columns.

Battery box and microcontroller

Connect the red wire from the battery box to VCC_IN+. Connect the black wire to GND_IN. You can use the holes that would have been for a jack to provide strain relief for the battery box wires.

The final step for assembly of the electronics is to insert the microcontroller into its socket. Orientation is critical: Make sure that the half-moon indentation at one end of the chip matches that on the socket and PCB. Insert it firmly, as far down into the socket as it will go.

Servo motor setup and testing

Connect the servo motor to one row of the 6-pin header with the dark wire connected to ground on the right side of the board.

Servo horn attachment and testing instructions in progress

Pumpkin Carving

Please see the original Snap-O-Lantern article for carving instructions.