The new miniTesla system by Chris Wasshuber is an exciting new prototyping system based on the original Philips spring contact system. It brings a lot of new, modern options (including a RPI board, USB-connection, power plug connection etc.) and more flexibility in use, plus a much denser distribution of holes which allows complex systems to be built. The system successfully emerged from a Kickstarter initiative whose webpage still gives a very good overview of - and idea behind - the system. I foresee that most of my future projects will use these components. Still I want my designs to have the nostalgic Philips EE look ... .
So I quickly set to develop a version of the Philips EE2000/2001 protoboards that is compatible with both miniTesla and Philips EE components, including the Philips EE console. The miniTesla system uses a slightly larger hole separation for LEGO compatibility (16mm vs. 15mm). Based on an initial design by Suntri (the owner of the Rigert forum) for a more dense Philips EE board, with his help and that of other forum members I finally came to a version that allows both miniTesla and (almost all) Philips EE components to be used, as testified by below images:
Due to the marginally larger hole distance used by miniTesla, almost all Philips components will fit. Concretely this means:
- 2x2 boards (transistors, light-emitting diodes, etc.): these fit perfectly!
- 3x3 boards (from EE2001 such as infrared, DIN-plug, reed relays etc.) and 3x1 or 3x3 components (the old and new coils from EE1000 & EE2000 etc.) also work very well. I would like to suggest the use of standard springs from EE2000/2001 for these components instead of those of miniTesla or ABCD (= Winkler), certainly if you want to use them together with the guides of miniTesla. There reason is that the 2mm extra distance over 3 holes for miniTesla compared to Philips EE creates some extra "pull" force for the springs, for which the EE2000/EE2001 springs are immune.
- Larger boards (with length 4 or larger, like the LM3900 board): This likely is no longer possible, but there we have the miniTesla IC modules!
The design views for the board top and bottom are shown here below. Note that - contrary to the original Philips EE boards - the lower side of these boards is largely flat, allowing the miniTesla conductive traces to be used on the bottom as well. One can even 3D-print the boards with transparent material, allowing these traces to be visible as they were meant to be in the miniTesla system!
It is important to note that the latest version of this board design uses a "half-symmetric" design such that it can be 3D-printed twice, and then one of the boards rotated 180 degrees and connected to the other board. In this way it is possible to use the traces and other miniTesla components across the boundary between the two boards, as shown here:
Note that the impressions at the top of this webpage use an older version of the board design.
I am currently experimenting with these boards, more practical information will be added here soon.
The latest board 3D-print design (STL-file) can be found here:
- At the Rigert forum, including a discussion on how the design came about: Forum link
- Direct link to the half-symmetric design file stored at this website: STL file link
- There is a fully symmetric version of the board design, handy for smaller projects that fit on a single board (as a symmetric/centered hole distribution looks nicer then), the latest version is here: STL file link
At the Rigert forum, the miniTesla subsystem has its own subsite with useful application and development information (also related to Philips EE compatibility).