The crowdfunding campaign for the TinyFPGA BX has successfully completed. Thank you to everyone who has backed this project! The level of support was greater than I had imagined it would be and it has been a lot of fun watching the orders come in. If you didn’t get a chance to back the project before the campaign ends, don’t worry, you can still pre-order your board right from the Crowd Supply project page.

Manufacturing Update

About a week before the campaign ended, it was clear how many boards would be needed. Backers have ordered about 450 boards, I ordered a batch run of 1250 boards. This will let me keep the boards in stock for some time. I have contacted the manufacturer, PCBWay, and production has already begun on the TinyFPGA BX bare PCBs, and parts have been ordered for assembly.

PCBWay provides a nice GUI on their website for tracking PCB fabrication process.

The bare PCBs should be completed by April 27th. As of the writing of this update, the boards have finished their inner layer etching. I’ve received a picture from the factory of a large panel containing our boards.

The boards are combined together into large panels so they can be efficiently fabricated. The TinyFPGA BX boards are on the far right of the large panel.

Once the bare PCBs are complete and all of the components have arrived, assembly will begin. Assembly will take about 4 weeks. Assuming all of the components arrive on time and there are no other issues that appear, assembly should complete as early as May 25th. Currently all of the components except for one are scheduled to arrive on time. The FPGAs do not yet have an ETA. I’ll be tracking this closely and updating the schedule as I learn more.

After assembly completes, it will take about a week for the boards to be shipped to my location. They could arrive as early as June 1st. Customs delays and shipping issues can easily push this date out.

Once I have the boards, I’ll be able to test, program, and ship all of the boards for the Crowd Supply campaign. I don’t expect this to complete any earlier than the July 1st ship date from the beginning of the campaign.

If you want the absolute latest information about manufacturing, testing, and shipping, follow the @TinyFPGA Twitter account.

Special Thanks

I have a special thanks to Lattice Semiconductor. Their iCE40LP8K-CM81 FPGA is at the heart of the TinyFPGA BX board and it would be a very different board without that part. Furthermore, Lattice is supporting the project with FPGAs! I am thrilled with the support they have given me and this project. It will go a long way towards developing additional TinyFPGA boards in the future. Thank you!

Thanks again to all of the backers of the project. Without you this project would not be possible. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.