need help in designing circuit

Hello, I just finished creating a circuit, it's a drum machine, but I've done the whole thing on a solderless breadboard. I was wondering if anybody could give me any tips on how I could go about transferring my design onto a PCB. If anyone could reccomend any software or such that is good for this? I have a copy of PSPICE, but I'm not sure if that's mainly for simulations. I've seen the "do it yourself" kits with the photo-resist chemicals and everything, but that seems potentially messy and complicated. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with the places that you send the schematic to and then they mail you your PCB?

Thanks Joshua

Reply to
panfilero
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There aren't places that you just mail a schematic and get back a board

-- there are PCB houses to which you can send a board design and get back a board. The process works quite well, it costs way less to have a few boards popped out than having a technician build one from scratch, and you have a 'real' board.

But you still have to do the layout with a PCB layout tool, and that's not trivial if you haven't done it before.

If I have a circuit that is working right on a breadboard, and I want to make a one-off permanent circuit, and I don't care to make it smaller, I hie myself down to Radio Shack and buy one of those PCBs that has the same hole and solder pattern as a breadboard, and I transfer it -- wires and all -- to the PCB just exactly the way it was on the breadboard.

This is in the US -- I'm not sure if you can get those convenient little PCBs anywhere else.

--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
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Reply to
Tim Wescott

Try Kicad. Find it here:

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Reply to
Ian Bell

Hi, Joshua. I'd second the motion that the easiest thing to do would be to use the Radio Shack perfboard (Model: 276-170, #3.29 ea) and just transfer over directly.

But everyone has a yen to try making an etched board at leat once. Hey, get it out of your system -- it's not too expensive anymore, if waiting a while for board turnaround is OK with you.

Try Express PCB. They've got free proprietary CAD software, and have a starter deal where you can get three 2.5" x 3.8" boards made for just $51. You might be amazed what can actually fit on a board that size.

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Many swear by them. Many swear at them. They do go to some lengths to make it easy for newbies, and engineering students doing senior projects. Just remember their software locks you in to buying from them or redoing the board in another CAD package -- the files are incompatible with other CAD software.

Good luck Chris

Reply to
Chris

True not all CAD software are compatable however some are like CADkey and AutoCAD. AutoCAD has applications for electronic drawing and with some work CADkey is also available to draw electronic design. Using standard Electronic shop practices you can adapt any CAD software drawings as circuit board drawings. How do you thing electronic drawings are made? By hand? haw haw... Here is a list of CAD programs Active-Cad Active-VHDL Alias ANVIL EXPRESS Ashlar Vellum AutoCAD Avanti Bentley CADAM CADDS Cadence Cadence Allegro Cadkey Cadmax CADnetix Cadstar CALMA CATIA CoCreate Computervision Designcad 2000 HP Solid D I-DEAS Ironcad Macdraft Mentor Graphics Microstation Orcad PADS

P-CAD

PDMS

PDS

PRO/E

PTC

Rhino

SDRC

Smartsketch

Solid Designer

Solid Edge

Solidworks

Step

Synopsys

Tango

Turbocad

Veribest

Verelog

VesaCAD

VHDL

VHDL Warp

View Logic

Reply to
Bitznpeezs

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makers of Eagle has a lite version. FREE limited to

2-sided pcb.

The OP seems to be a newbie and those other packages are way too expensive for someone just experimenting. Eagle has a usenet newsgroup, so plenty of support if you need it.Look for the tutorial pdf file on their website.

Problem with expresspcb is, you can not make gerber files, you are STUCK with their crap. stay clear away from them.

Reply to
maxfoo

Depending on the complexity, you might want to do this by hand. I have used various CAD programs, and they make the job much simpler, but the problem is that they have a big learning curve, especially the first one you encounter. If you expect to be doing more of this work, then investing the time to learn a program may make sense. But there is also a certain satisfaction to doing it by hand, and it's not too hard if the board can be single-sided. (You may need a few jumpers to make that work.)

Use graph paper with a 10th-inch grid. Draw copper as black lines, component outlines in red. You may need to redraw several times as you try different layouts. The hardest parts are the purely-digital sections, since there are no components to break a trace and allow another to cross in the same plane. I typically do rough sketches on plain paper just to get an idea of the best approach. If you don't care about jumpers (if you are only making one of these) this can be much easier. Otherwise, you can spend (waste) a lot of time optimizing.

Then you can make the whole thing with a Sharpie marker, a dental bur in a Dremel tool, and ferric chloride etchant. Full details at

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Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Scope, Spectrum, Spectrogram, Signal Generator Science with your sound card!

Reply to
Bob Masta

Have a look at

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Reply to
g.knott

If you're going to do it often I'd recommend you learn how to use EAGLE and go with PCB Express (pcbexpress.com -- they're different from expresspcb.com, and I always get the wrong URL). The learning curve is steeper with EAGLE, but EAGLE will give you industry-standard Gerber format files that you can shop around anywhere.

OTOH, if ease of use is of paramount importance, use Express PCB and their baby CAD software.

--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
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Reply to
Tim Wescott

Whoa! I appreciate all the responses, I didn't think it was gonna be this complicated to get my schematic over to PCB format (I'm new to all this). This is something that I would like to get into, so I am willing to invest some time and energy to learning some of the better software than taking an easy way out of this. I have access to a copy of OrCad 10.5, if I learn how to use this and draw my schematic on it, would this give me a file that I could send somewhere to have it made? I mean if I'm willing to invest some time and energy into learning software for circuit designing, what is a good, generally universely accepted type of program to go with?

much thanks Joshua

Reply to
panfilero

I have used Eagle and Kicad and _both_ are excellent, but as with _all_ real CAD programs they have a sharp learning curve for those who have never laid out a board before. [I've also used the very expensive and hard to use stuff from others ;) ]

Kicad has a schematic capture module although I actually *like* some features of OrCad (ok, so I'm a masochist) and you can use that and the integrated flow to go from design to gerber - same with Eagle AFAIK. I think you can import a netlist into Kicad, so it would be a matter of generating the right netlist out of Orcad if you use that.

If you want to do any serious designs, then you'll need to learn layout and layout tools sooner or later anyway - you might as well do it with something you *already know works*.

Cheers

PeteS

Reply to
PeteS

With any electronic CAD program, you have to both draw your schematic, and lay out the PC board based on that schematic. The PC layout program will normally produce "Gerber" files that can be sent off to almost any board shop to get the boards made.

There may be some contract board layout shops who will produce a board layout from your schematic and specs, but I expect that they will be much too expensive for hobby use.

Reply to
Peter Bennett

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, Maulkin1989 wrote:

Not all CAD software work consecutively with CAM, however your best bet is PADS which is a process I was taught at AAI Learning Center in Glendale Arizona. This Low tech solution will apply to the circuit board manufacturing. You will take a Mylar and apply Rubber strips in the pattern you have the capacitors, Resistors and Relays on the board. The process will be applied to copper coated fiberglass. Then acetate will be applied with a photo-scoped process etching the copper in a solution keeping only the copper applied to the board. Feed-thru holes are a little bit harder. You may layer the underside or sandwich the copper boards into a layered board in between the fiberglass polyester board. The back side of the board having the same process as done to the other side, this process repeated to the different layers. The board may be reduced to save space and material, and preferred by the manufactured. I know AutoCAD has this feature in its program as well as other workstation programs. The following are a list of process software and you should do your homework. These CAD programs may not have a CAM process which stands for computer automated machinery.Active-Cad Active-VHDL Alias ANVIL EXPRESS Ashlar Vellum AutoCAD Avanti Bentley CADAM CADDS Cadence Cadence Allegro Cadkey Cadmax CADnetix Cadstar CALMA CATIA CoCreate Computervision Designcad 2000 HP Solid D I-DEAS Ironcad Macdraft Mentor Graphics Microstation Orcad PADS P-CAD PDMS PDS PRO/E PTC Rhino SDRC Smartsketch Solid Designer Solid Edge Solidworks Step Synopsys Tango Turbocad Veribest Verelog VesaCAD VHDL VHDL Warp View Logic Hard copy is also a process which might be difficult so contact the software dealer to find out which features might apply to you. I most like Bentley and AutoCAD. These are the leaders in IBM Compatible computers. The main CAM software may not apply to the board manufacturer .So contact a reliable machine shop to assist you. You can work together to create the jigs you will need in the manufacturing process. At the rubber plant I worked for used a manufacturer in Ohio which worked with CAM. I also worked with Whites Steel a part of Virgin Aerospace. The Fiberglass company I worked for worked with Chinese Manufactures, and the best work for these type of plans are in the Philippines. I wish you luck and hope you can make some money for the boards or at least get a good inventor. By the way are you a tinkerer or just an avid fan of electricity. I look forward to any future contact. I may be reached through any computer using snipped-for-privacy@msn.com. Please feel free to contact me. If you are unable to get a reply please be aware I receive 200 emails a day and can not sift through all the junk mail. I am only on the computer 2 hours a day and answer about 2 % of replies for information. I read about 20 to 30% of my email and go to the next task in my day. I look forward to any futer contacts, questions or comments. Best Regards, Richard B. Torres

8595 Philbin Avenue, Arlanza , Arlington, Riverside County, California, 92503-2278. Majesty Village, Riverside.
Reply to
Maulkin1989

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