Hi!
After building a few amps more or less successfully (they all work), i'd like to start sketching up simple PCBs. Obviously I have never done this before and don't quite know where to start. I read an article on sparkfun mentioning the fritzing software and i know tons of people use eagle. What's the best place to start for a beginner?
Also what are the rules regarding other people's circuit designs? Say I find a circuit that looks reasonable easy to me on the internet and build that circuit on a breadboard (or PCB) for my own use. Would that be a copyright problem or similar?
Happy to hear your advice.
After building a few amps more or less successfully (they all work), i'd like to start sketching up simple PCBs. Obviously I have never done this before and don't quite know where to start. I read an article on sparkfun mentioning the fritzing software and i know tons of people use eagle. What's the best place to start for a beginner?
Also what are the rules regarding other people's circuit designs? Say I find a circuit that looks reasonable easy to me on the internet and build that circuit on a breadboard (or PCB) for my own use. Would that be a copyright problem or similar?
Happy to hear your advice.
Personally, I use KiCAD for schematic entry and PCB layout. It does have a few quirks, as do all of the available tools, but once you learn to deal with them it will allow you to create professional quality results. And the fact that it is available free of charge doesn't hurt.
Try watching a few youtube PCBCAD videos and you will see them working and then you can see which one you like best.
Going "simple" isn't always the best way as good error checking is absolutely vital.
Going "simple" isn't always the best way as good error checking is absolutely vital.
The free version of Eagle has limited board size, that is likely to be too small for an amplifier
There are loads of free from copyright designs on the net.
For those that arent a email to the designer will often find out if you use it or not and under what conditions.
I asked Maplin if I could reproduce their 50 watt hi-fi amp from 1980.
They said it was fine so long as I didn't use the Maplin name anywhere.
They were worried about people getting in touch with Maplin about faulty amps.
I settled on EasyEDA after all and spent some time designing my first PCB. No I wanted to send it to production at jlcpcb and the online gerber view gives me the following error:
Gerber_BoardOutline.GKO(Board Outline Layer):Gerber file with a board outline
Also the curved tracks end up looking akward. They look fine on other online viewers for some reason. Now I spent tons of time putting this together and I'm not sure if I can send it to production.
I'm working on a mac so i cannot use GerbV to check my files. Other online viewers seem to display the files just fine. Can anyone explain to me what that error means? I'll attach the file.
View attachment Gerber_PSU 1.0_20191205170649.zip
Gerber_BoardOutline.GKO(Board Outline Layer):Gerber file with a board outline
Also the curved tracks end up looking akward. They look fine on other online viewers for some reason. Now I spent tons of time putting this together and I'm not sure if I can send it to production.
I'm working on a mac so i cannot use GerbV to check my files. Other online viewers seem to display the files just fine. Can anyone explain to me what that error means? I'll attach the file.
View attachment Gerber_PSU 1.0_20191205170649.zip
it looks good in easy eda indeed. it looks rubbish in jlcpcb's online viewer....
do they get in contact before manufaturing something that doesn't make sense ?
do they get in contact before manufaturing something that doesn't make sense ?
Hi Mixi,
I also checked your gerbers in Gerbv and all looks OK except you have written "DONE" on the bottom copper layer outside of the board's outline. It may or may not be a problem. Also the GND plane is covering the mount holes area which will lead to shorting the PSU ground to chassis if you use metal stand-offs and screws. I would suggest to isolate the mount holes copper rings from the rest of the GND plane and make a connection with a solder bridge if you intend to use the stand-offs as your chassis ground connection. The curved traces from the reverse bias protection diodes to the 10uF electrolytic caps near the output connector are routed too close to the mount holes. I would add 1 mm of clearance between those traces and the mount hole outlines.
Regards,
Oleg
I also checked your gerbers in Gerbv and all looks OK except you have written "DONE" on the bottom copper layer outside of the board's outline. It may or may not be a problem. Also the GND plane is covering the mount holes area which will lead to shorting the PSU ground to chassis if you use metal stand-offs and screws. I would suggest to isolate the mount holes copper rings from the rest of the GND plane and make a connection with a solder bridge if you intend to use the stand-offs as your chassis ground connection. The curved traces from the reverse bias protection diodes to the 10uF electrolytic caps near the output connector are routed too close to the mount holes. I would add 1 mm of clearance between those traces and the mount hole outlines.
Regards,
Oleg
Oleg, thanks for your advice - as always!
All of your advice makes a lot of sense to me and I will change it accordingly.
All of your advice makes a lot of sense to me and I will change it accordingly.
Actually I just checked the holes. They have some clearance and should not be connected to anything. I would not know how to disconnect them from the ground plane since they don't seem connected in easyeda.
EDIT: There seem to be a few different way of adding holes in EasyEda. I now changed them to plated pads which have clearance around them an no connection to anything (hopefully). Maybe that works better? File attached.
View attachment Gerber_PSU 1.0_20191206120229.zip
EDIT: There seem to be a few different way of adding holes in EasyEda. I now changed them to plated pads which have clearance around them an no connection to anything (hopefully). Maybe that works better? File attached.
View attachment Gerber_PSU 1.0_20191206120229.zip
Last edited:
Went from eagle to KiCad a couple of years ago and haven't looked back. As I am curious, I've tried easyeda and circuit maker. I haven't tried the expensive ones, but I doubt they are worth the money as they would have to be very much better than the free KiCad. KiCad has a very good community as well.
Mac browser Safari doesn't recognize download. Can't open. Tried to post question on KiCad forum but form requires a "category" and I could find no category that this question fit.