Well it is pinball related but.

Anyone on here work with CAM, Gerber files and circuit board production?

I was working with a program FreePCB and threw together this PCB just to get a handle on the software. Is this something that can be produced and are there any rules i.e. spacing of traces that I should be aware of in the design phase?

With it I can generate drill files and Gerber files for the traces, screening etc. This is the output as viewed with GerberLogix V2.2.

You want to speak with wysiwyg.  Haven't seen him around for quite a while but, he's the resident expert with these things.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Well it is pinball related but.

Anyone on here work with CAM, Gerber files and circuit board production?

I was working with a program FreePCB and threw together this PCB just to get a handle on the software. Is this something that can be produced and are there any rules i.e. spacing of traces that I should be aware of in the design phase?

With it I can generate drill files and Gerber files for the traces, screening etc. This is the output as viewed with GerberLogix V2.2.

When you think about it, if you're going to etch your own boards, there really are no hard and fast rules, but you do a test board and see if it flies.  Remember that certain circuits run their traces very closely together.

Generally speaking however, I would say that if it is a high current circuit, then the traces need to be wider and spaced further, but for typical IC circuits, they can be quite thin and compact (although again it depends on the etching process whether your results will be good).

Now, all that being said, why don't you ask a circuit board producer, they take designs such as this and small run produce them for you and there are many such firms and certain they would be willing to give some advice on the prospect of gaining a client.

I found I can get 100 of these produced for $90. Two layer if required, silk screened and drilled. Don't know what I would do with a 100 of these but in the interest of figuring it out it might be worth going through the process. I went through the trouble of routing it single layer in case I wanted to try etching one myself. It's a good little puzzle to attempt limiting the layers and get the traces where they need to go then varifying the circuit.

My sense in looking at it is that trying to etch my own I may have some issues getting those narrow traces down clean. Anyone have experience with etching their own boards and if so is this going to be a problem? The whole board is a little over an inch square to give an idea of scale.

In my younger age, I designed and manually etched a few boards,
and had the following recommendations applied at the time:

- make sure each trace is wide enough to get around masking tolerances for etching
   (in addition to basic current capabilities); easy to have an 'open' trace if too narrow;

- make sure each trace is far enough from its neighbor to avoid potential short either
    due to improper etching in a spot, or due to clumsy soldering process/practices.

The newer technology of course has a lot less of these issues now, however I still would
aim to leave more space between traces than what is shown in your pic (the three traces
very close to one another).


Good luck !
- Sylvain.

Basically, "what everyone else said".

Make your traces as thick as possible, leave more room between traces.
For example, those 3 traces between the DIP IC pads, space them out and leave the same amount
of gap between the traces and the adjacent pads on either side.
Make power & ground traces as wide as you can... they pick up less resistance & noise that way.
Bigger is always better when it comes to traces & pads, but you need to leave as much space as you can afford between them or else you can wind up with bridges upon etching.

Also, if you going to 'etch your own', make your pads as big as possible.
Often hand-drilling will lift & remove small pads.

I have done a lot home-etching over the years, and I found the toner method to work the best with CAD s/w.
Check here: http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm#1

Works best with the paper listed from Staples.
Your laser printer will have an effect as well on the outcome. The older the printer, the better. Newer ones (color ones) don't seem to lay down enough toner to transfer properly. It takes some practice to get it right.

Avoid those special "PCB Toner Transfer Sheets" (usually blue) you see on ebay... I found them to be worse than Staples photo paper by a long shot.

For echant, use Ferric Chloride, avoid the Blue crystally stuff (Ammonia Persulphate??, it's not strong enough.
You need to warm it up a bit to make it etch faster (the faster it etchs, the less chance you will have of trace undercutting).

Once you get it nailed down, it's a breeze. Or, go with the specialized PCB manufactoring services if you can afford it, or need multiple copies. They typically require only a gerber & NC drill file, but they may be fussy on what program you use to create them, and may want the main pcb file so they can clean it up and properly adjust the apertures. They don't always deal with different vendor's CAD programs, sometimes only the commercial versions.

Good luck!

For getting small quantities of PCBs manufactured, I use this place:  http://batchpcb.com

"You submit your PCB design, we add your design to the batch of orders. When the batch is big enough (usually about 1 week), the batch is set off for manufacture. 10 days later, the individual boards are received by us. We then split the orders up and mail your order to you."

I recently got a couple of 1"x1.5"adapter boards made there (which I designed in Eagle) and it cost me about $4.50/ea + $10 flat shipping.  Much better than paying $90 or so to get 100 boards made, especially if you're just prototyping a design.  The turnaround time is a little longer than a normal PCB fab house, since they wait for a full 'batch' before sending it out, but if you're not in a huge rush, it's a good option.  I think I got my boards back in about 3 weeks.


  

Thanks for the input. That batch PCB site seems to be a good way to trial boards in low volume and I certainly don't mind the wait.

ToMMy on the drilling is there any merit in drilling first and etching afterward?

Not sure if I am going to go the etch your own board route. With all the mechanical and electronic crap lying around the workshop, if I add in the chemistry to do the boards I think I could be considered a certifiable mad scientist at that point. Too humid for the straight jacket this time of year.

My question is what's it for?

Quoted from Vengeance

My question is what's it for?

His building is own remakes of MM ... just 3K down ... and the rest on delivery

It looks like a simple step-up power supply using an op-amp?

D

Quoted from necro_nemesis

ToMMy on the drilling is there any merit in drilling first and etching afterward?

No, it just gives the etchant more places to eat through your artwork mask. You can't protect the copper edges around the holes.

http://batchpcb.com sounds like a neat way to go .... saves turning half the stuff in your shop yellow with ferric chloride stains. My wife is still miffed at the color of her laundry tub now not to mention the top of the freezer which I'm no longer allowed to use as 2nd workbench