Touch
 Metal

Say Hello :)

Feel free to get in touch via the contact page. I don't sell or give away information from users, and I won't start spamming you. It's just fun to know who is looking at this :)

AI Notice

This website and all work contained within, including the Touch Metal board, software and documentation, were developed without the use of AI, generative technology, grammar-checking/suggesting software, chatbots, or other assistive tools except a simple spell checker. For more information, see real-i.org.

NEWS!

31 May 2026

Lots of recent activity:

28 May 2026

The PCBs arrived one day early :) They look great, and they have our company logo, the FCC symbol and individual serial numbers. I've listed stock on Lectronz. I've made official thank-you's for the 777 message area, and am writing more interesting sample programs that can be loaded on power-up. Also improved the programmer's card and am re-printing some of those (the prior print was on cardstock instead of coverstock).

26 May 2026

PCBs are in Hong Kong; expected this Friday!

I also sent a print order for programming cards: tri-fold cards that summarize the instruction set. I've actually been making good use of my draft copy. I'll post these on the site under Resources once I build a new board for the front picture.

The project is officially CC-BY-SA; I've updated the main manual accordingly, and added terms of use re: FCC compliance. Will also add the license terms to the website soon.

Also getting ready to post on HackADay :)

Meanwhile, I've started making good progress on a book of exercises for the board. My goal is to explain a bit about something, and then have the reader do a bunch of exercises to work with the concepts. I tend to err on the too-wordy side, so I'm trying to temper that. I think trying things (especially when they involve physical activities like pressing buttons etc.) is a much deeper learning modality than reading or watching a video.

24 May 2026

The PCBs have shipped :)

Also, I've opened a store on Lectronz (an alternative to Tindie, which seems to have had some issues lately). The Touch Metal board is listed there. I'll be selling them for $40 each, including a USB-C Cable. You can also order a hardcopy instruction manual from there ($7.50). I may also offer the board in kit form (for a small discount). The product page says "COMING SOON" because I'm waiting for the PCBs, but as soon as those arrive I'll build a few boards and list the available stock. I expect the boards to arrive by 30 May 2026.

PCB STATUS UPDATES

2026-05-21 08:11:45 In Production
Producing in Factory JLCPCB Factory 5. Estimated finish time: 2026-05-24 21:52:42,
2026-05-20 18:07:03 Y19-3444468C manufacturing data finished.
2026-05-20 07:30:50 Data Preparation
All orders have been reviewed, waiting for engineers to produce the manufacturing data.
2026-05-20 07:25:18 Reviewing
Order paid, waiting for file review, review will be completed in 10-60 mins when business hours.
2026-05-20 07:23:41 Order submitted
Your order has been submitted, waiting for payment now.

20 May 2026

Also making update videos on YouTube

Will be posting source code/design files/etc. on HackADay soon.

15 May 2026

Missed some updates! Officially formed Zarasawa, LLC to market these boards. Switched to the 4-layer board, which works great. Doing lots of legwork basically while waiting for FCC testing. Which happened today!

Spent the morning at EMI (Electromagnetic Investigations) having them run tests on the Touch Metal board. It passed! Emissions are within spec and I can fill out an SDoC indicating FCC compliance. That was the last impediment to selling boards.

28 Apr 2026

Built up a few boards from the newest 2-layer set. The first worked well, but had exposed copper on the back. The factory told me 34/50 boards failed their tests. The top 3 of the stack they sent me had exposed copper traces.

Anyway, I build up a second one, and it works great! I also ordered a stencil with these, and that's fun but not really a time-saver for me. Applying the solder paste words well, and it melts easily, but placing the chips precisely is tricky, and I ended up needing to do some re-work anyway. I could dial it in, but I do enjoy hand-soldering, so I may stick with that for now.

Buttons! I order 1000 pushbuttons from Ali-Express, and they seem to work well :)

27 Apr 2026

Been a while since an update, but I've been busy :) The website has been modernized a bit more. I've changed the firmware a fews ways, including setting the RESET button so it stops a running program. Mimicking these changes on the website's emulator as well.

Largely, I've been looking at FCC compliance. To sell (or even give away) these boards in the US, I need to certify that they comply with FCC emission standards. Doing so will require testing their EM emissions at a lab, and it's been surprisingly difficult to find a facility. Lucking I think I've now found one, nearby and more affordable than most others I've seen in the US. I hope to do that testing in the next several weeks.

I've also re-designed the PCB for the board, switching to a 4-layer design, in hopes of lowering EM emissions. I've also dropped the underlying clock speed from 64 MHz to 16 MHz. While the 64 MHz oscillator is still in there (I think it just gets divided down to 16 MHz), the signals running around inside the PIC chip should be slower.

Also started looking at the business side of all this, again, as a path to making boards available.

And I've been updating the user manual: did a full review/edit, and also pushed out a copy to Amazon (including changing some of the figures to be more readable in B&W format).

13 Apr 2026

Added a page for downloading the source code for the program loader (which lets you load a machine language file into the Touch Metal board). Not useful yet (since the boards are not generally available), but I wanted to figure out how to make this page :)
Also added an AI Notice.

12 Apr 2026

Added a Hardware section to the Resources page, showing a picture of the board and some basic information.

10 Apr 2026

Launching! Made a contact page with Mobirise, then added my own header, got rid of google stuff, etc. Look and feel is close enough to the other pages.

9 Apr 2026

8 Apr 2026

Well, not much news so far other than everything that I'm working on! So let's see, so far: