Assembly and Setup

Electronics

If you bought a kit, you will receive this part already assembled and programmed.

Schematic

This is the schematic of the device.

../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-schematic.svg

Printed Circuit Board

A printed circuit board is necessary for assembling the electronic part of the console. You can find the gerber files in the project’s repository.

../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-pcb-top.svg ../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-pcb-bottom.svg

If you need to make modifications to the PCB designs, the Fritzing file is also available in the project’s repository.

Bill of Materials

You will need the following components:

Part/Designator

Manufacture Part Number/Description

Quantity

Remarks/Links

U1

ATSAMD51G19A-MU

1

Mouser

U2

ST7735R 1.8inch TFT

1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32818686437.html

U3

AP2112K-3.3TRG1 ldo

1

C1 C2

10uF 0805 capacitor 3V

2

R1

10Ohm 0805 resistor

1

R2

10kOhm 0805 resistor

1

R3

470Ohm 0805 resistor

1

X1

10118193-0001LF microusb socket

1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32874709816.html

X2

MK12C02 switch

1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32812362709.html

X3

HYG7525

1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1707004675.html

X4

2xAAA battery holder

1

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32921198766.html

BU BD BL BR BZ BX BO

SKRPABE010 switch 1.57N

7

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000424101435.html

two-sided tape

1.5cm

for attaching the battery holder https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33030272723.html

The positions of the components are marked on the PCB’s silkscreen, and there is also a pick-and-place file included with the gerbers.

Please make sure to use the correct set of holes for the battery holder, depending on the polarity of the particular model you have. If you need to use the holes on the side of the display connector, it’s best to solder the battery holder first, and the display later.

Bootloader

You will find the UF2 bootloader binary and sources in the project’s repository. In order to flash it to the chip on the PCB, you will need an SWD-capable programmer, such as JLink.

Connect your programmer to the 12-pin connector at the bottom as follows:

Programmer

Device

SWDCLK

1

SWDIO

2

RST

R

VCC

+

GND

-

While programming, the device needs to be powered either from battery, from USB, or with 3.3V through the + and - pins.

If programming from the command line, use the following commands:

JLinkExe -if SWD -device ATSAMD51G19A -speed 4000kHz
J-Link> connect
J-Link> erase
J-Link> loadbin pewpew-m4-v8-bootloader.bin 0
J-Link> g
J-Link> qc

After this, a PEWBOOT disk should become visible over USB. The UF2 files can be copied to that disk to flash them on the device. To force the device into a bootloader mode again, the R pin needs to be shorted with the - twice.

Firmware

The CircuitPython firmware can be downloaded form the official CircuitPython downloads page. The UF2 file just needs to be copied over USB to the PEWBOOT disk.

Case

The case consists of two layers of acrylic parts, held together with six screws, and four button caps, attached to the switches with pieces of two-sided tape or glue. The whole assembly is shown below.

../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-assembly.svg

Acrylic Layers

The acrylic parts are laser-cut from 2mm clear and 3mm translucent sheets.

../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-3mm.svg ../_images/pewpew-m4-v8-2mm.svg

It’s possible to cut more than one set of parts from a single sheet, so you may want to modify the provided designs. Please also note that the design files include dimensions, which should be ignored by the cutter.

Bill of Materials

Description

Quantity

Remarks/Links

M1.8 6mm flat-head self-tapping screw

6

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32976344389.html

2mm clear transparent acrylic parts

1

see pewpew-m4-v8-2mm.svg

3mm orange translucent acrylic parts

1

see pewpew-m4-v8-3mm.svg

Project Reposiotory

All the design files can be found in the project’s repository.