PCB Designs for Free

[empire23]

Ever thought of say, a super duper mini amplifier or some fantastic fan controller design, a power stabilization PCB, or heck even a convertor that turns Mini IDEs into standard ones, or a 4 pin MOLEX into 5 3pin KK fan headers?

Well, here's your chance, i need some practice so i'll be flexing my PCB skills, so send in your submission for useful devices, and if possible, design rules and schematics. Although i don't really mind if it you don't really know how to draw a schematic, just gimme an idea and i'll try it out. If you're really enthusiastic, i might even mass produce one of these puppies for everyone at techarp.

So if you think you have a really great idea for a PC Peripheral on your hands, don't hesistate, have a little fun in showing your ideas and doing the community a favour. And hey, how many of us have been waiting for such a chance anyways?

Anyways here's a extremely simple board with an optimized layout. It's dual layer PCB i designed for water coolers so that 3 fan headers can be plugged while taking power from a single MOLEX, instead of using 3 messy converters and splitters, also includes 1 KK output connector that can be split into 3 SENSE wires for a fan speed detector.




Here's a few rules.

1. Clear and Concise English
2. Make sure your design limitations and size needs are known before hand.
3. Try helping me by giving pictorial or model descriptions of the connector or plug (KK, AMP Mate N-plug, MOLEX triport, Amphenol)
4. You should try and let me know the consumption or power passing through before item before requesting it (Current is the most important)
5. If PCBs are to be made, remember that you get the PCBs ONLY, parts and assembly are your problem (I will give you the parts numbers though)
6. I assume that all these designs are to fit in some sort of discreet casing (the item's casing), thus i make them within the size limits of popular casings (Hammon, Partec)
7. Not too complex, i'm not using fking Candence here

[ChampionLLY]

wah..............

why not u go design ur own mobo?

[empire23]

Because it would take me a few gazillion years and 6 layer routing, plus signal integrity, plus SMD design rules, plus parasitic inductance/capacitance, plus board noise considerations, plus the fact that i really suck at analog, those all contribute to the fact why i shouldn't be allowed to design motherboards.

Anyways, motherboards are heug, seriously, the entire board schematic is a few hundred pages large. Simple ones i can design lol, that isn't an issue

[peti1212]

My dad is a Electronic Engineer, but he is always busy. Maybe some day. My dad had done so many cool things though, not made for computers though.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by empire23

Because it would take me a few gazillion years and 6 layer routing, plus signal integrity, plus SMD design rules, plus parasitic inductance/capacitance, plus board noise considerations, plus the fact that i really suck at analog, those all contribute to the fact why i shouldn't be allowed to design motherboards.

Anyways, motherboards are heug, seriously, the entire board schematic is a few hundred pages large. Simple ones i can design lol, that isn't an issue

I'm sure motherboards schematics are often stored inside computers.

and hey, I'm learning electronics too in my university, and also love to play with those hobby kits. The thing is, I can use a simple veroboard but I have to make no room for mistakes. So I hope I can get a cheap breadboard so if I get a mistake, I can rip out that component instantly without burning the board or my hands . And no more fumbling to over-bend these legs of these electronic components to put into that 'bongkah penyambung'.

'Bongkah penyambung' will be not suitable for IC (intergrated) circuit projects. But no matter anyway. Intergrated circuits are better off with breadboard. I'm learning some applications of transistors (like switches, amplifiers, and multivibrators - this is the most difficult one since it involve capacitors! ).

Oh, and I read it in somewhere that you can make your own PCB by the pages of Time magazine (if you happen to have old copies of it). And one of the another method including laser-printering it with a copper sheet and a piece of paper. Let me search for the method...

[empire23]

^ actually when the pre-prototype phase comes along, most of the engineers for the mobo gather in the same room, where they consult with each other and look at the board layout top to bottom, much like how intel validation engineers still have to use magnifying glasses over xray printouts to see if the chip is perfect.

Well, nothing beats the old fashioned way yah?

On building a board yourself, well, if you aren't into mass production, they i guess you can use the iron on technique, where you print it on piece of gloss paper, and then iron it onto a PCB or the older etching with blacktrack technique.

Well, i'm not really into that lol, so once we find a good design and the demand is there i'll just ploink it off for production and silkscreening.

[Trinity]

How do they make muti layer pcb's? Etch a few layers, and then sandwich them together? You doing these at home or work? Some pictures would be great!

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by empire23

^ actually when the pre-prototype phase comes along, most of the engineers for the mobo gather in the same room, where they consult with each other and look at the board layout top to bottom, much like how intel validation engineers still have to use magnifying glasses over xray printouts to see if the chip is perfect.

Well, nothing beats the old fashioned way yah?

On building a board yourself, well, if you aren't into mass production, they i guess you can use the iron on technique, where you print it on piece of gloss paper, and then iron it onto a PCB or the older etching with blacktrack technique.

Well, i'm not really into that lol, so once we find a good design and the demand is there i'll just ploink it off for production and silkscreening.

Yes - the iron-on technique is the most ideal one. But you must have a laser printer - and a program to draw the circuit lines. There are tons of it in the net, and you can get freeware version of it for linux too, or Windows if you happen to found one. I wonder what board they are using for this? Cardboard, or wood?

[empire23]

Originally Posted by Trinity

How do they make muti layer pcb's? Etch a few layers, and then sandwich them together? You doing these at home or work? Some pictures would be great!

You can't really do multilayer at home, they usually use sprayed fiberglass and some lithographic process to produce multilayer PCBs.

At home using software available online, i'mma gonna design a DC-DC isolation system for people who are anal about power, i've already done a MOLEX to MOLEX LC filter (needs a little tweaking though), and a surge protector. Will post once i'm done.

[Trinity]

I used to make them so long ago (at home). I used an etch resistant pen and etching solution. Made some neat things.