Dremel 18×18mm ESP32-C3-01M down to 18×15.8mm fully functional

[HermannSW]

I am building tiny robots (the MCU PCB "is" the platform) since quite some time:



I had dremeled Tiny2040 MCU as well as DRV8833 motor controllers keeping them working before. Today I did dremel ESP32-C3-01M module keeping it functional. Accessing MicroPython REPL as well as file transfer in both directions is done via Webrepl, RX(IO20)/TX(IO21)/IO9/IO6 pins are used to control two micro motors via DRV8833 motor controller. I had to fix a MicroPython webrepl network bug for the module, that and other details can be found in this posting:
https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic ... 8b7338e513

[ESP_Sprite]

That certainly is *a* way of getting your footprint lower... Fyi, if you don't want to Dremel away, the ESP32-C3-Mini-1 module is only 16.6x13.2mm and you can solder to GPIO18/GPIO19 there, giving you access to the builtin USB-serial-JTAG peripheral so you don't need a programmer anymore.

[HermannSW]

@ESP_Sprite
Good idea, I had that as well and ordered ESP32-C3-M1 modules as well, even more than ESP32-C3-01M.
But its pin spacing is even smaller than the 1.1mm of the ESP-01F module as you can see in middle box.
I will try to solder ESP-01F first with very big magnification on HDMI screen (I once successfully soldered a single 1mm spacing pin).
The only ESP32-C3-M1 module with MicroPython flashed I have sofar is the dev board right.
Top middle you see the tiny external antenna of ESP-01F.

20211227_085724.20%.jpg

20211227_085724.20%.jpg (46.28 KiB) Viewed 5026 times