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Renewable Energy Questions/Discussion => Renewable Energy Q&A => Topic started by: WooferHound on March 18, 2012, 12:50:10 am

Title: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: WooferHound on March 18, 2012, 12:50:10 am

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.

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: ghurd on March 18, 2012, 08:45:55 am

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-

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: Tritium on March 18, 2012, 09:34:52 pm

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

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: Janne on March 19, 2012, 03:24:26 am

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 =)

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: Bryan1 on March 22, 2012, 01:14:52 am

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
 

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: wilfor03 on March 22, 2012, 07:50:36 am

Quote from: Bryan1 on March 22, 2012, 01:14:52 am

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

Hey, Bryan.....

I'd sure like to see some photos of your process, if ya will. I've been trying this process also with a laser printer

and still having trouble with the "iron on" part of the image transfer to the board. Maybe need more heat, longer?

Anyway, curious to see how others are doing it.....Thanks

Bill

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: chanelok on March 22, 2012, 10:48:58 am

Woofer, I am a little new at this. Please pardon my naivete. I live in south Florida. I wanted dock lights that were impervious to the saltwater environment. I made the fixtures by sandwiching 8 LEDs between two pieces of 1" x 1/8" aluminum angle. The LEDs are soldered in series and directly connected (no resistors or current control) to a 24 vdc power source (lead acid batteries) and a 170 watt solar panel. I realize that the solar panel is overkill, but I plan to use it to power a solid state refrigerator. I made 12 fixtures, which are wired in parallel. The system functions well with no problems so far. I can send you
more detail and pictures if you like. Chuck

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: Tritium on March 22, 2012, 01:35:59 pm

Here is the best and simplest PCB fab method I have found to use at home once you have your artwork in hand. (I have a laminator for transferring the toner to the PCB)

http://pcbfx.com/

Thurmond

Title: Re: I want to have some circuit boards made
Post by: BenandAmber on April 11, 2019, 01:03:50 pm

Has anyone ever thought of redesigning power jack mosfet boards and making them where they have through hole resistors and use the bigger mosfet like the 247 hy4008 a file that could be sent to a PCB maker to have these made would be awesome

would keep you from having to buy overpriced Power Jack Moss boards

And I really like the 247 hy4008 someone put a link to them on here and I went and bought a hundred of them