44 June 2014
■ FIGURE 4. Eight .01 µF capacitors, 34 .1 µF
capacitors, and one tact switch. The eight .01 µF
capacitors (marked 103) install just to the right of each
4.7K resistor. Thirty-two of the .1 µF capacitors (marked
104) install down either side of where the 40-pin ZIF
socket will install. The other two install just below where
the DB- 9 mounts. Note the orientation of these two as
it differs from the others (vertical rather than
horizontal). The RESET switch mounts bottom-center of
the board and should only fit one way.
■ FIGURE 5. Four 10K SIP resistor packs and two
LEDs (any color). The 10K SIP resistor packs should have
a dot or line to signify pin 1. This is very important as these
are bussed and have a common ground pin which must be at
the square pad on each of the four areas they’re on. The
LEDs can also be mounted. Color does not matter and you
can always use two of the same color if you want.
■ FIGURE 6. One DC power jack
and one DB- 9 RA serial connector.
Mounting holes for the DC power jack
are slightly large on the units I have. Be
advised that you should exercise
caution installing this unit because you'll
need a lot of solder, but you don't want
to melt the connector or damage the
PCB from excessive heat. The DB- 9
should snap right in. I only put a little
bit of solder around the mounting tabs
since they practically lock in place
anyway. The solder there is more to
keep the tabs from unlocking. Those
holes don't need to be filled.
■ FIGURE 7. One ZIF socket. Finally, snap your ZIF
socket into place and you're ready to start testing BASIC
Stamps. Source code is located at the article link.
Exceptions to the Rule
As previously mentioned, there are a few Stamp-based boards we
cannot put into the tester because they are surface-mount (Home Work,
Sumo, and Toddler). So, for those, I designed a card-type solution that
could plug into the 16-pin SIP socket available on all three. In fact, the
card could be used on the Board of Education (BOE), Professional
Development Board, or any other board that has a 16-pin socket with
access to the I/O pins on the Stamp. (This allows you to test it on a
development board if you should choose to.)
