RVAsec Badge Build 2014

Summary

Since the start of the RVAsec conference here in Richmond, HackRVA has been building the attendee hardware badges. The project has been a great opportunity for members to work together on a long-term computer hardware fabrication. The goal of the badge is to provide each attendee with an open and completely "hackable" piece of hardware, loaded with entertaining games and puzzles that encourage attendee-attendee interaction.

The current firmware, including links to datasheets, can be found on our GitHub Page

Process Overview

The past two years (2014 and 2013), HackRVA and its members have built the badges from bare copper boards. Members etch, pick-and-place, solder, and QC every badge. The following PCB Creation and Component Stuffing sections detail this process. Relevant QC steps are described within these sections.

PCB Creation

There are many PCB manufacturers that offer relatively cheap manufacturing of single-layer boards. Still, drawbacks include the increased cost and the "Christmas surprise": a large number of costly boards appearing on our doorstep with systemic issues. Additionally, the hacker look and the learning experience of creating our boards is generally considered very valuable.

We start with bare copper boards (1/2 ounce), apply a resist compound in the pattern of the desired board trace, and finally we remove the exposed copper (not covered by resist) with ferric chloride.

The following subsections describe this process, including some tips and general do's and don'ts.