Part 1 Ordering the PCB

Part 1: Ordering the PCB

This is where you spend real money. Read the whole page before you order — the quantity and the "what arrives" section below both matter.

The board arrives fully assembled

JLCPCB places every component for you: the Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3, all five DRV2605L haptic drivers, the TCA9548A I2C mux, the WS2812B status LED, the SPDT slide switch, the LSM6DS3 IMU, and all six 2-pin JST-PH sockets (five motor ports plus the battery port). You do not solder anything onto the board.

This is the biggest simplification in the whole v3 build. There's no soldering anywhere in the project — not on the board, and not in the tactors, whose wire-to-LRA connection is a friction fit made by a printed wire plug (see Part 3 Building the Tactors and Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly). If you can order parts online and follow instructions, you can complete this step.

How many to order

Order two assembled boards — one per glove. It's easy to order one by habit and end up short a board for the second glove, and re-ordering later means paying for another manufacturing run and shipping cycle. Order both now.

Ordering from JLCPCB

The PCB/v3/ directory in the repository has everything JLCPCB's SMT assembly service needs:

• Gerbers: jlc_pcb_gerbers.zip — the board fabrication files
• BOM: BOM_JCLPCB_BlueBuzzah_v3.csv — the bill of materials JLCPCB sources parts from
• CPL: CPL_JLCPCB_BlueBuzzah_v3-all-pos.csv — pick-and-place positions for SMT assembly

To order:

1. Download all three files above.
2. Go to JLCPCB's PCB assembly order flow and upload the gerber zip for the bare board.
3. When prompted for assembly, upload the BOM CSV and the CPL CSV. These are already formatted for JLCPCB's SMT workflow, so you shouldn't need to remap columns.
4. Set quantity to 2.
5. Confirm the parts JLCPCB sources match the BOM (same designators, same values) before placing the order.

If you prefer a different assembly-capable fab, the same three files should work with any service that accepts gerbers + BOM + CPL for SMT assembly — the workflow will look similar.

What this order does not include

The assembled PCB is the electronics board only. It does not include:

• LRAs (the vibration motors)
• Springs or spring tactor hardware
• Gloves
• Battery
• Wire, connectors, or other build materials

See Parts and Tools List for everything else you'll need to complete the build, and Part 3 Building the Tactors for what happens to the LRAs once you have them.

Lead time and cost

Lead time depends on the fab's current queue and the shipping method you choose — expect it to be the longest wait in the whole build, so order early. Cost varies by supplier, quantity, and shipping speed; Parts and Tools List covers cost expectations for the full build.

---

Next: Part 2 Flashing and Smoke Testing the Bare Board | Previous: Overview of the Build | Back to: Home