PCB design

[Fellside]

Hi

Has anyone any experience of generating a PCB layout from a Schismatic drawing. I know there is software that can do it but I have no idea where to start. So if you have used anything first hand and could point me towards a free solution that would be great.

Board is relativly simple with a Arduino naro, couple of chips, plugs, connectors etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Graham

 

[rl]

DesignSpark is a fairly common freebie

https://designspark.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/201145765

Never used it myself so can't comment. 

As an electronic engineer myself I've never yet found a package I'm truly comfortable with. I've tried Pulsonix, Altium Pcad, Orcad, Easy-PC and several others. They are all a lot of work to learn there is generally a lot of setting up to do....how hard it can be depends on the quality of the parts libraries supplied. If you have only one simple design to make, have you considered giving it to  a design house to get prototypes made?

I use Morgatronics for the stuff I do professionally. :

http://www.morgatronic.co.uk/

It may seem expensive, that depends on how you value your own time. 

Alternatively, can you frame your design to use DIP chips and leaded parts that can be mounted on veroboard. This is hard nowadays because of the prevalence of surface mount parts, but sometimes it is still possible. 

RL

 

 

[symmetal]

I use KiCAd to design PCB layouts. It's free and Open Source with loads of libraries for components to create schematics and layout the board. I print the layout using a laser printer and then develop and etch my own boards. As with all PCB design packages there is a fairly steep learning curve though there's plenty of on-line instructions and videos.

If you want to post your schematic or pm it to me, I can input it to KiCad do a quick layout for you to get you started, which you can then play around with. 🙂

Alan

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I use Autodesk's Eagle, but in freeware mode, (https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/eagle/overview?referrer=%2Fproducts%2Feagle%2Foverview)

it limits the size of PCB that can be created, but is a very good router with a large symbol\parts library... 

[Fellside]

RL

This is going to be for a very limited number of boards so I was looking to keep the cost down.

Alan

KiCad looks interesting. I will install it tonight and have a look at what it can do. I may take you up on your offer to get me started.

Julian

I use Fusion 360 and have now installed Eagle. I must have been looking in the wrong place, the library didn't seem that big to me. There was no Nano which is my main component.

Thanks all for your recommendations.

Graham

 

[fozzybear]

You could also take a look at Fritzing https://fritzing.org/home/

[Fellside]

Fozzy

I just looked at Fritzing. I uploaded another Gerber file and ready to order in seconds. 18Euro for three boards from Germany and free shipping. Great.

Alan

They also accept KiCad files

Thanks Fozzy

Graham

[fozzybear]

2 minutes ago, Fellside said:

Fozzy

I just looked at Fritzing. I uploaded another Gerber file and ready to order in seconds. 18Euro for three boards from Germany and free shipping. Great.

Alan

They also accept KiCad files

Thanks Fozzy

Graham

i think their partner is Aisler

[Fellside]

Post deleted

Edited June 13, 2020 by Fellside
Incorrect post

[Fellside]

Post deleted

Edited June 13, 2020 by Fellside
incorrect post

[Alien 13]

Some great info here, I am old school and design circuits in my head then scribbled on a bit of paper, all my circuit boards are hand drawn too, thankfully I only work with valves and transistors.....

Alan

Edited June 13, 2020 by Alien 13

[symmetal]

1 hour ago, Alien 13 said:

Some great info here, I am old school and design circuits in my head then scribbled on a bit of paper, all my circuit boards are hand drawn too, thankfully I only work with valves and transistors.....

Alan

My first PCBs in the 1970s had the pcb track layouts drawn by hand by pencil on layers of tracing paper, and then painting the tracks on copper board with humbrol enamel paint which resisted ferric chloride.  Then rub down transfers (similar to Letraset) made it look much neater though it was still a lot of work for just 1 board. When photo resist for boards became available and early computers had rudimentary PCB CAD packages, I bought an XY plotter to plot the layout on transparent film which was great for multiple boards. Dot matrix printers at the time weren't good enough. Sodium hydroxide developer strength and timing was very critical though or your board was ruined. Laser printers now do a good layout on transparent film and developers are much more tolerant. 

I still had dozens of A3 sheets of Letraset type and graphic lines until recently. The A3 size sheets were quite expensive. After 20 years or so they didn't transfer very well so had to throw them away.  

Alan

[symmetal]

4 hours ago, Fellside said:

KiCad looks interesting. I will install it tonight and have a look at what it can do. I may take you up on your offer to get me started.

It has several Nano symbols, though I often modify the library symbols and keep them in a personal library for my own designs. KiCad doesn't have a classic Windows style layout though you easily get used to it. 

Alan

[wimvb]

15 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

thankfully I only work with valves and transistors.....

Alan

Surface mounted? 😁

for strip board, there is veecad. Good enough for simple, one of projects and quick prototyping. Not so good for valves or smc.

https://veecad.com

[Alien 13]

11 hours ago, wimvb said:

Surface mounted? 😁

for strip board, there is veecad. Good enough for simple, one of projects and quick prototyping. Not so good for valves or smc.

https://veecad.com

That software looks good although not a big fan of strip board unless it is of the FR4 variety (come back proper Maplins).

Alan

[malc-c]

Bit late to the party, but I use DipTrace for my PCB work - then have the boards made from the exported gerber files by JLPCB in China...

[Fellside]

Hi All,

First I would like to thank Alan (Symmetal) for his help with this project. He pointed me towards using KiCAD. Then spent his valuable time carrying out most of the work. Thanks Alan

Ok this is how for we have got so far. Its a double sided board 79 x 43. Berger file is generated and all I have to do is send it to the pcb manufacture of my choice.

Graham

[symmetal]

Hi Graham,

Happy to help. If you select the B.Cu layer before taking your screen shot it'll show the green tracks on top of the red. 

Alan

PS. It's Gerber 

[Fellside]

Hi

PCB`s were ordered 1st July and arrived today two weeks later. The boards look fine, were well packaged and I got a complimentary roll of insulating tape.

Company was JLCPCB.COM

Minimum order 5 boards. Price £5.85 including shipping from HongKong.

Great service, I will be using them again.

Problem is I have to make 5 of everything🙂

There are quiet a few Robert Brown MY projects I am interested in.

Regards

Graham

[malc-c]

Looks good - not sure what the project is, but you could always make and sell them to other forum members unless the project is very unique ?

[symmetal]

Boards look good Graham. Hope the project goes together without any problems. 🙂

Alan

[sloz1664]

There are quiet a few Robert Brown MY projects I am interested in.

Just love Robert Browns projects, Graham.  So far I have built three autofocus units & the MySQM project.

Steve

[Fellside]

Steve

Mr Browns Dew Controller looks very interesting as well as a Myfocuser.

On the MySQM project he recommends the Mega and not the Nano but the PCB appears to be for the Nano. Which Arduino did you use and what functions did you fit?

Graham

Edited July 20, 2020 by Fellside