IF YOU HAVE A KIT WITH “LONG” LENGTH HEADERS
This means the length of your 6 pin SPI headers are shorter than the 8 pin and 10 pin header supplied.Use the following notes:
The longer length 8 pin and 10 pin header will accommodate the male header provided on the DUE motherboard. This means that you should assemble your board in this manner. First, solder the 8 pin and 10 pin headers that you expect to use. Second, place the 6 pin header on the DUE itself (see pictures), then mate the shield over the DUE with the SPI pins coming up from the bottom. Third, now solder the 6 SPI pins from the top side of the shield. This will set the proper height for the header with respect to the motherboard and shield, thus avoiding the mating problems experienced in the past with standard length headers (see below).
IF YOU HAVE A KIT WITH “STANDARD” LENGTH HEADERS
This means the length of your 6 pin SPI headers are the same length as the 8 pin and 10 pin header supplied. Use the following notes:
If you plan to use the SPI pins watch out for proper seating of the other headers on the board. I just came across this issue on a project i was working on. The issue is that the DUE motherboard has a male connector on the SPI breakout instead of the female like all the other headers. This causes this header to sit at a different height than the other pins and can cause other pins to unseat. I don’t have a fix for this other than changing the DUE motherboard connector to a female like the rest (I have not tried this yet). Personally, if I don’t need the SPI breakout I do not populate it, I only populate what I need….there are lots of pins on this board to deal with which is the great thing about the DUE but can also be challenging!
Any feedback is appreciated.
UPDATE: Here is some user-submitted feedback with great how-to steps for modifying the SPI header, thank you Doug!
“Just wanted to let you know that, while I have not soldered it all up yet, it looks like this will mod will help make the headers seat better even when the 2×3 header is included:
1) Sand the top of the 2×3 header down until you just begin to see the metal parts showing.About 2mm. I used 220 grit.
2) Sand off the ridges on the board side of the 2×6 header until they are gone.
3) With a good pair of side (flush?) cutting wire cutters, cut ~2mm off of the ends of the SPI connector on the Due (ie. shorten the pins).
I find that, having done this, the modified 2×6 header appears to still make a good connection with the SPI connector on the Due, and the rest of the headers sit much closer to the board. Not completely seated, but off by maybe only 0.5mm or so.”
