Online Service for Gerber from Schematic

It's called a printed circuit layout sub-contractor, and there will be several near you - possibly even one who can do a good job, if you check their layout carefully before you have the Gerbers sent out for conversion into a printed circuit board.

Automated net-list to layout programs do exist. Reputedly they do a pretty good job on regular logic, less good on fast digital logic and analog circuits.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

You won't find a "turn-key" service. There's too much that isn't specified on a schematic that affects the layout. Which foil traces should be heavier, where to add ground planes, thermal reliefs, pad sizes, etc. Do you care where your components are placed? E.g., how about a power connector in the exact *center* of the board?? How do the component locations correspond with the design of the enclosure (if any)? Shielding requirements, etc.

You can find a service bureau that will work WITH you to bring a schematic design to a layout. But, you probably wouldn't WANT a firm that just guarantees "X is connected to Y and M is connected to P -- which is all your schematic required of us!"

There are some free/demo tools that will let *you* play with doing a layout of your own. THEN, you can send the photoplots ("gerbers") off to another service bureau to print your boards (and, optionally, populate/test them).

Now that's just pure snark. Granted, it's almost exactly what I was going to say, but still...

+1 what Bill says. There's a lot more to a printed circuit design than the schematic. You need at least a talented layout guy, if not an engineer.

Once you get a gerber there's good places to go for PCB fabrication.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

This is hicksville. Sadly, there is nobody near me, apart from the dog and an internet connection.

The circuits are not that complex, 40-50 components max, and no HF.

Surely I could provide any supplemental info by phone.

Bob Griffin

Bob, try a post in the forum below:

Someone is sure to be interested in doing remotely (by email etc).

Did you do the schematic? Surely if you can design a circuit you can design a circuit board.

C'mon. It'll be good for you.

There may be one of those online hiring services out there that do this stuff, if you want your PCB design done by the lowest bidder.

As a totally ballpark guess, if the job just involves layout to a specific size, shape, and collection of mounting holes, and if the board isn't too crowded, then you're probably talking eight hours to do a credible job, at the absolute minimum. I've never laid a board out yet that actually worked right out of the chute, so figure on at least one board turn.

If you've got a schematic without specific parts chosen (and I mean specific-specific: down to the exact part number to order them) then that adds considerable time. If you've got an untested schematic and you give it to a circuit designer, his sense of responsibility will not allow him to just lay things out: he'll want to do as much engineering as necessary to make sure it has a good chance of working.

So, anywhere between 8 hours and infinity, for between $75 and $150 an hour (maybe $50, if it's a layout guy who lives in Missoula) (and the putative $150/hr guy may end up being the cheapest, when all is said and done).

--
www.wescottdesign.com

What kind budget are you looking for?

Tim

-- Seven Transistor Labs, LLC Electrical Engineering Consultation and Contract Design Website:

--
I use these guys: 

http://www.austincircuitdesign.com/home.html 

John Fields

Bugger, I must live in Missoula!

Thanks for all the helpful comments, particularly the ones that suggested learning anything new in electronics is fun.

This is still the dark ages isn't it? No personal helicopter, no household atomic energy ...

The US leads the world in AI software. How about a program that will produce a basic board layout from a scanned schematic and set of user-defined criteria?

Put it on the Govt. black budget.

I will contact the sources mentioned to see what they can offer.

Bob Griffin

Well, why can't the AI create the schematic? For that matter, it should create the criteria as well. One subroutine can place production orders, and another drum up product advertising.

--
 Thanks, 
    - Win

Eventually it will depend on what the AI itself wants to buy.

Chances are good that we're just a carbon-based bootloader for the next step in evolution of intelligence in this benighted corner of the galaxy.

--
Best regards,  
Spehro Pefhany 
Amazon link for AoE 3rd Edition:            http://tinyurl.com/ntrpwu8 
Microchip link for 2015 Masters in Phoenix: http://tinyurl.com/l7g2k48

Bob Griffin has no idea what he's getting us into.

--
 Thanks, 
    - Win

Talk about feeding the troll.....

Watch it Spef. Slowman's going to accuse you of being a Larkin clone.

Krw demonstrates - once again - that he hasn't got a clue. Spehro posts something clever and funny, and I'm supposed to accuse him of being a Larkin clone?

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

How are they going to know what your component sizes are? Or whuich type of caps you're using where? Or what your priorities are? As well as the other unknowns already mentioned.

For 50 parts, if you really havent the vaguest how to do it, there's always the old crepe paper tape.

NT

Another win for AI over the human brain.

We rarely use technology intelligently since the economy revolves around perpetuating every outdated thing that makes money. This is the price we pay for indulging in "human nature".

How many boffins have had to design almost exactly the same circuit when, instead, prior knowledge could be pooled into a global AI application. Less work sum total.

Just type in your list of specs here.

Bob Griffin

That's what this usegroup exists to facilitate. We don't swap camera-ready artworks, but we do talk about the detailed problems that come up with specific circuits doing specific jobs.

You will get a better reception if you tell us why you want to do whatever it is you want to do, and what your first thoughts about solving the problem were. We don't like being asked to solve student homework problems.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney