Gumstix Spacer

The gumstix has a number of accessory boards which all stack together. Unfortunately, the stack is a bit unstable when everything is put together.

I decided to make a little spacer which would hold everything together securely.

Rendering of spacer

I designed the spacer in Rhino. This is a rendering of the spacer, along with the Rhino Model. Bigger...

Spacer Drawing

Here's a dimensioned drawing of the spacer. The 60 pin hirose connector has a nominal spacing of 3mm (0.118"). The 92 pin connector has a nominal spacing of 2mm (0.078"). Bigger...

Size Material

I started with some pieces of 1/8" PVC I had, and machiend the 0.236" dimension. Bigger...

Drill

I drilled a series of holes 0.300" apart. Bigger...

Cut pieces

I then cut the pieces roughly to size using my razor saw. Bigger...

Cleanup Edges

The edges were cleaned up/squared up. Bigger...

Machine Slot

The 0.040" slot was machined using a 1/32" endmill. Bigger...

Finished Slot

Removing the fuzz shows the finished slot. Bigger...

Finished Spacer

Here's the finished spacer. I used a 1/2" 0-80 machine screw to hold it all together. Bigger...

Mounted on gumstix.

Finally, the spacer mounted with a waysmall, gumstix connex, and a netMMC card. Bigger...

Closeup

Closeup of the spacer. Bigger...

Compact Flash Card

I have one of the older style Compact Flash adapters. The holes that I used for mounting the spacer were covered by the CF slot, so I drilled a couple of holes through the holder. I drilled from the back (through the hole in the PCB) using a #53 drill bit, and then from the front using a 5/32" drill bit. Be very careful when drilling through the bottom of the adapter since you don't want to touch the PCB. Bigger...

Screw Driver

The 5/32" hole needs to big enough for the screwdriver to get access. Bigger...


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Copyright 2010 by Dave Hylands