Building the Breakout Board

In pictures - an assembly guide for the T41U5XBB.

This guide assumes you have bought the optional assembly kits. Though it should be very similar if you sourced your own parts.

Gather the parts and take inventory.

Assembly kit and PCB

There should be 2 1x24 sockets, 2 1x40 pin header strips, 1 2x3 pin header, 1 2x6 pin header, 10K trimmer potentiometer and 32 screw terminals.

Install the Pin Headers

Prepare pin headers

Snap off the pin headers from the 1x40 header. You will want 1 1x2, 1 1x3, 7 1x4 and 1 1x6 headers. Use 2 sets of needle nose pliers to break each one off.

Insert the 1x6 header.

Use painter's tape to secure it. A small wooden block is useful to give the header pins room underneath the PCB.

Turn the board over and find the 1x6 header's pins.

Solder one pin.

Flip the board back over and note header alignment.

If it is crooked like this one, use the following procedure to fix it. Otherwise, solder the remaining pins and then touch up the first one.

Place a finger on the unsoldered pins.

Touch the iron to the soldered pin while pressing on the header with your finger.

This is a little tricky but you are going to heat up the one soldered pin and, when the solder melts, the pressure from your finger on the other side will cause the header to slip into place. Verify alignment. Let it cool, solder the remaining pins from the other end and finally touch up the first pin.

Your PCB should look like this now.

Repeat the process for all the other headers including the 2x3 and 2x6 ones.

Install the Teensy 4.1 Socket

Locate the 2 1x24 pin sockets.

Insert the sockets onto each side of the Teensy 4.1.

Insert the Teensy+Socket assembly onto the PCB. USB connector at the edge of the PCB.

Flip it over and solder 1 pin on each socket.

Verify that the sockets are properly aligned and resolder if necessary. Then solder all the remaining pins.

It should look like this.

And look like this on the top side.

Install the screw terminals.

Slide the screw terminals together.

You will need 2 rows of 11 terminals and one row of 10. Make sure that the are all even. It may take a little extra force to get them perfectly aligned. You want them to sit flat when installed on the PCB.

Lay them out like this to ensure they are correct.

Insert a row of screw terminals and solder the two end pins.

Flip it over. You will probably have something like this.

Flip it back over, press in the middle and solder one more pin.

It should look like this. Adjust the ends or middle if needed.

Repeat for the other two strips. You should have this.

Install trimmer potentiometer

Locate the trimmer potentiometer.

Insert the trimmer potentiometer as shown.

Hold it in place, flip board over and solder on pin.

Verify alignment and solder the other two pins.

Trim excess.

And, just like that, you are done with USB kit.

If you are installing Ethernet, continue on. If not, you are ready to install the grblHAL firmware.

Installing the Ethernet Kit

Locate the parts: MagJack, 2mm pin header and socket.

Insert the header into the socket as shown.

Insert the other end of the header into the Teensy 4.1 s shown.

Solder one pin, as shown.

Take care when soldering the header on the Teensy 4.1. Use the smallest soldering iron tip you have. Avoid over heating the Teensy 4.1. If it is taking too long, stop, let the Teensy cool down and start over. Once one pin is soldered and the alignment looks good, carefully insert the Teensy into the sockets and guide the 2mm socket into the 6 holes on the PCB. A small screw driver can be used to align the 2mm socket pins. Gently press into place. Then solder the remaining 5 pins on top.