What's in the parcel

Apart from the main board and other things like cables, stickers and manual, this is what you should find in your parcel (you can click on images for a higher resolution). There are two black 12mm M2 screws, two bolts, four black self-tapping screws and six Teflon washers.

How to assemble

To minimize risk of damaging the board with static electricity, only hold it by edges and do not touch components. Click on the banner above to learn more about risks of ESD.

As this version of Gecho is the most flexible to be adapted for your own idea of the enclosure, you don't need to follow these instructions precisely - they are merely examples of what can be done. There are two options, depending on whether you want to use the 3D printed shell, or mount your Gecho to a custom made enclosure, e.g. a wooden box.

With a Wooden Box

Please ignore the four brass spacers (following photos show first steps of complete unit's assembly but apart from these spacers, steps for assembling your DIY kit are identical).

Place the middle frame on the front panel, check for correct orientation. Add buttons and two longer black M2 screws. You may want to put something soft under the front plate, a piece of foam or corrugated cardboard, it will help to keep the screws in place and help a lot when adding bolts.

Now add the board.

Add two teflon washers onto every screw.

Place the acrylic plate, watch for correct orientation. Don't forget to peel off the protective layer from both sides.

The wires should go through the cutout.

Put two bolts in place and secure everything together. Do not tighten it too much, so the acrylic does not crack. You can put a drop of glue on every bolt to prevent loosening over time.

That's it! Now you can mount your Gecho to a box, frame or other enclosure of your choice, using the 4 self-tapping screws (make sure the front panel and intermediate panel are aligned well before tightening them). Please do not hesitate to share photos of what you made! :)

With 3D Printed Shell

This option does not necessarily require installation of the middle frame, as it will be in the way, adding 1.6mm to the front plate. In result, connectors will not get deep enough into the cutouts. This is only an aesthetic issue and does not have impact on functionality. You may keep the inner frame and modify the 3D enclosure slightly to compensate for this (I will add such variation when I will get chance).

If you decide to leave the frame out, the assembly process is the same as in previous option described above, but instead of the frame, use two washers on each screw to maintain spacing between front plate and the main board (one washer will not leave enough space for buttons to operate smoothly). The remaining two washers (one on each screw) should go between the board and back acrylic plate. Do not tighten the bolts too much, to not crack the plate. In other versions there are two washers between the PCB and the acrylic plate, but here one is enough - that extra millimetre of space may be required to accommodate the Li-Po cell.

And this how the result should look like. Use the 4 self-tapping screws to mount it to the 3D printed shell.

Installing Li-Po

If you are adding a Li-Po cell, you need to enable built-in charging circuit by closing two solder jumpers. Also, be careful to connect the battery wires correctly. Larger pads are there to support a JST connector like this one, but they have no electrical connection.

There are two pads for each battery pole (one is for wire terminal, the other one for JST connector), they are internally connected so if you solder wires directly, it does not matter which one you use - or you can solder on both to get a more reliable joint.

When installing Li-Po cell, check that the wires are soldered well, and there is no risk of short circuit. It might lead to violent discharge, heat up, melt, set something on fire - if the cell does not have a protective circuit. Make sure the cell does have the protection - you can find more info at the end of this article.