SAE J1772 tester

Mounting controls on a Jiffy™ box lid is all well and good, but you then need a rats-nest of wiring to connect them to your circuit board - or “float” the components directly on the control terminals!

Unless you’re lucky? If all the controls have a similar height, then the PCB can be slipped on to the backs of the mounted controls and then soldered into place.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case for this circuit. One component was 8mm taller than all the others, and space constraints meant a 45° drop to the next one. If only PCBs were flexible…

And now they are! Thanks OSH Park! This board has an extra ~3.3mm between the top and bottom halves compared to a strict top-down, 2D view of the lid, to accommodate the 8mm drop [ as seen from side-on: √(8²+8²) ≅ 11.3 = 8+3.3 ]. I can solder the top half high, then flex the board to reach the lower components with the bottom half of the board.

Oh, and see Thingiverse for the lid!

UPDATE: I’ve been published! DIYode Magazine is an Australian hobbyist print magazine to which I’ve submitted this project. And I wrote a blog page for it too…