Female Header

thingiverse

I wanted colorful coded female header pins to help electronics learners become familiar with color codes and build and debug circuits efficiently. This innovative product also benefits experienced electronics professionals by providing a replacement for standard housing for female header pins. It's designed specifically for 2.54mm (0.1 inch) spacing PCB or veroboard, making it an ideal tool for various applications. The customizer allows users to choose the number of pins required, adding flexibility to their projects. To achieve optimal results, I printed this product on its side, which is essential due to the fine nozzle size requirement. This orientation also ensures that color changes can be made without needing a dual extrusion printer. For metal parts, I removed them from standard female headers and inserted them into place using pliers. I successfully printed this product in PLA without any issues with melting during soldering. However, I did exercise extra caution to ensure the quality of the print. Considering my Ultimaker 2 printer's capabilities, this project proved to be quite challenging due to its thin walls and fine details. To achieve optimal results, I recommend printing slowly and producing multiple items simultaneously to allow each layer to cool properly. The customizer includes additional fine-tuning options that may need to be adjusted according to the user's specific printer settings. It's essential to examine the part in layer view before printing, as certain features might not print correctly depending on the settings used. Print Settings: Printer Brand: Ultimaker Printer: Ultimaker 2 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.06 Infill: doesn't matter Notes: I used a print speed of 40 mm/s and an initial layer height of 0.2mm Overview and Background: Students often struggle to connect sensors and other electronic components. This innovative product aims to simplify the process by color-coding pins for simplicity, reinforcing wire colour conventions, and assisting in circuit debugging. Lesson Plan and Activity: The file would be printed prior to the activity and used on a breakout board or shield (such as one for an Arduino) in conjunction with other components. The educator would explain the colour conventions for wiring electronics before introducing a board with these connectors. Students could then wire the circuit, which should now be more intuitive than with standard female connectors. Materials Needed: This is just a small component of what's required for this activity. Standard female headers are needed to obtain metal parts, as well as veroboard or PCBs, sensors, microcontrollers, wires, and other necessary components.