I’ve been spending some time with a low-cost PicoScope device, and wanted to give a review in case you’re looking at one. To begin with, you can check out my Circuit Cellar Articles about selecting a scope.
There’s also a video version of this:
PicoTech’s 2200 range is a compact oscilloscope, if you want all the details check out The PicoTech Website. Presumably you’re interested in my hands-on experience instead though, so I won’t duplicate everything there.
This is the final product, it can hold a PCB for testing without needing to have soldered any pins to it:
And without the PCB mounted:
I got parts from ebay seller “pingf123”. Parts used were:
“4 Edge Latches for Phototype Test Fixture PCB ICT”
“20 Chisel Spring Loaded Pogo Pin”
“spring loaded guide pin for prototype fixture PCB”
Here are a few of them spread out:
The bottom PCB was drilled & bolts threaded into it (I didn’t have proper taps, but with PCB you are able to thread holes w/o them if you are forceful). The top PCB is drilled to allow the pogo pins to fit through. Getting the height of the pogo pins correct is critical, so this method let me test the height easily. When the height was correct you just screw the bolts through the top PCB to lock it all together.
Soldering the pins in one row at a time. Once this was done I soldered the male headers on the bottom side, and put a lot of epoxy on it. Be careful not to get epoxy anywhere that is supposed to move!