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Getting started with electronics
Posted by Chris
on
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I've been playing about with PIC microcontrollers for quite some time now and have produced a few hobby-level projects (although the last actually had an application, it was a automated chicken counter and door controller).
I'm currently working on an idea which I hope will prove popular enough to sell a few units: nothing particularly ground-breaking or revolutionary, but an idea that a few other people have expressed an interest in and I think will be of use to a few more. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.
Anyway, because this will be more than a one-off, I'm having to give serious thought to volume production (volume as in more than one, perhaps half a dozen or so) and how to advance from the "works-on-a-breadboard" prototype to making something that can be repeated a few times over. That means printed circuit boards.
I found this website http://www.expresspcb.com where you can download FREE schematic software and PCB layout software. You can even link the two, so that as you design your PCB layout, it will highlight which pins and terminals need to be joined together. I don't know much about the software yet, but have used it to sketch out some simple circuits. It's a bit clunky to use, but if you've even had to use something like AutoCAD for your schematic drawings, you'll appreciate the clever little extras that have gone into this application.
If you're thinking of any kind of electronics project, whether for breadboard prototyping or a finished printed circuit board, it might just be worth visiting the site and trying their software. I've used a lot worse. I tried writing my own, which was nowhere near as good. In fact it's not bad at all....
I'm currently working on an idea which I hope will prove popular enough to sell a few units: nothing particularly ground-breaking or revolutionary, but an idea that a few other people have expressed an interest in and I think will be of use to a few more. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.
Anyway, because this will be more than a one-off, I'm having to give serious thought to volume production (volume as in more than one, perhaps half a dozen or so) and how to advance from the "works-on-a-breadboard" prototype to making something that can be repeated a few times over. That means printed circuit boards.
I found this website http://www.expresspcb.com where you can download FREE schematic software and PCB layout software. You can even link the two, so that as you design your PCB layout, it will highlight which pins and terminals need to be joined together. I don't know much about the software yet, but have used it to sketch out some simple circuits. It's a bit clunky to use, but if you've even had to use something like AutoCAD for your schematic drawings, you'll appreciate the clever little extras that have gone into this application.
If you're thinking of any kind of electronics project, whether for breadboard prototyping or a finished printed circuit board, it might just be worth visiting the site and trying their software. I've used a lot worse. I tried writing my own, which was nowhere near as good. In fact it's not bad at all....
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