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I want to have some circuit boards made

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WooferHound:
I want to have some circuit boards made for LED Lighting but I'm having trouble figuring out the details. I'm looking at these folks to make the PCBoards
http://iteadstudio.com/store/index.php?cPath=19_20
But they require a Gerber File that defines the layout. I'm trying to find some software that will help me to generate the files.
Does anyone have experience having PCBoards made and what software were you using ?

Also ,  is anyone interested in some LED Circuit boards. The ones I want will have 3 (or more) strings of 3 LEDs with a resistor for each string and a master resister for each individual board, plus a place to mount a Voltage or Current regulator. Maybe some connections to run it with 6 LED strings for use with 24 volts or more.

ghurd:
For just a few boards,
Leaning to run Gerber file generating software is like going through medical school just to get a stethoscope for free.

Might look at http://www.expresspcb.com/

G-

Tritium:
Eagle from www.cadsoft.de/freeware.htm  is pretty good and free for "small" projects.
Here is a good company to produce them fairly cheaply http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/fusion-pcb-service-p-835.html

As Ghurd implied there is a learning curve.

Thurmond

Janne:
Well eagle definitely is an easy way of getting gerber files out to ITead, as they have a .cam file for eagle available for download on their site.. Just need to load the .cam file and eagle will output the required gerbers.

Eagle might not be the most intuitive program to learn, so if you have no experience with it yet, it may be worth while to look into other packages, for example many like Diptrace. But I've been using eagle for years now, and I like it, it has a traditional "command console" which IMHO makes it quite powerful.

Been using ITead half a dozen times of too, no problems ever with them. And you really can't beat the price =)

Bryan1:
G'day Woof,
                      Eh mate if your using linux give KiCAD a try the other weekend I downloaded it and made my first board with it. Once I was happy I designed the circuit properly I printed it out onto glossy paper then ironed it on some pcb board then etched it. Going that way isnt hard to do and it does save on $$$$ with also the satisfaction of DIY. The smallest spacing I done using the iron on method is 0.25mm for that zif socket for my glcd, and eh if after you've ironed on the circuit if you find a mistake just get the steel scrubber out and polish the board clean and start again with the corrected image.

                  If you like mate the next board I do I can take some pic's showing the process and upload them.

Cheers Bryan
 

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