Solderless PCB mounting for pushbuttons, on-off switches etc

[doveman]

After soldering I think the most important thing to be able to do is make PCBs, as they make things much neater and can help minimise wiring. I need to learn how to do that myself, so it would be great if people could share tips on the best free PCB design software for noobs, the cheapest but still decent methods of actually making the boards, etc. There's various guides available but they tend to each recommend different methods, so it would be great if people who have tried one or more of them could advise on their experience.

 

I've also long wondered if a dremel is necessary for creating nice looking panels, as the decent cordless ones aren't cheap (you can get cheap ones, sometimes with 100+ attachments but reviews reveal the motor is too weak, the attachments wear out very quickly, etc), so I'd only want to buy one if it's necessary.

[BravoYankee4]

I believe Eagle is one of the most common applications when it comes to PCB design.

Personally I use Diptrace (still learning), mostly because of some really good tutorials on youtube.

So far I have designed and ordered two different PCB's, and it is pretty amazing that you can go from a few minutes effort on your PC to having a complete PCB in your mail shortly after - and all this at a pretty low cost.

[pappavis]

yes, correct, this is for an Arduino UNO.. but may change to MEGA.

 

My desire indeed is to have it as PCBs to save on ugly wires, i'm already busy.. why not make it look good under the hood.. which saves ugly wiring and the PCB printing is hopefully affordable.

 

below: my Arduino UNO shield in KiCAD;

 

 

 

I assumed Arduino, since that is indicated in the original post.

 

BTW, do u get fully assembled PCBs including the mounted switchs/LEDs ?? Which service do you use?

 

more Q's

* What would above arduino shield be costing approximitley?

-- Only for the PCB, and me soldering components onto it

* What is the min. quantity of boards one may order?

* What if... i want a fully assmbled PCB with the LEDs and everything..? I saw EEV-blog mentioned sumthing about reels and pick-and-place. Thats why i was excited abt that $4k printer :P

Edited December 14, 2015 by pappavis

[doveman]

I believe Eagle is one of the most common applications when it comes to PCB design.

Personally I use Diptrace (still learning), mostly because of some really good tutorials on youtube.

So far I have designed and ordered two different PCB's, and it is pretty amazing that you can go from a few minutes effort on your PC to having a complete PCB in your mail shortly after - and all this at a pretty low cost.

Thanks for the tips, I'll hopefully have time to get into it next year.

[BravoYankee4]

yes, correct, this is for an Arduino UNO.. but may change to MEGA.

 

My desire indeed is to have it as PCBs to save on ugly wires, i'm already busy.. why not make it look good under the hood.. which saves ugly wiring and the PCB printing is hopefully affordable.

 

below: my Arduino UNO shield in KiCAD;

 

 

 

 

 

BTW, do u get fully assembled PCBs including the mounted switchs/LEDs ?? Which service do you use?

 

more Q's

* What would above arduino shield be costing approximitley?

-- Only for the PCB, and me soldering components onto it

* What is the min. quantity of boards one may order?

* What if... i want a fully assmbled PCB with the LEDs and everything..? I saw EEV-blog mentioned sumthing about reels and pick-and-place. Thats why i was excited abt that $4k printer :P

 

I think most PCB makers have a "prototype" service that is for low quantity series that offers a pretty low cost. I have been using this service and usually the minimum order is for 10 PCB's.

The cost is approximately 10USD for 50*50mm boards and approximately 20USD for 100*100mm boards.

Many also offer a service with components mounted, but the you end up with very different price range. Haven't tried that yet so I can't really elaborate on that.

 

So far I have used Seed and Itead.

http://www.seeedstudio.com/service/index.php?r=pcb

 

https://www.itead.cc/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html

[FSFIan]

You might also want to consider designing your shields to plug onto a Pro Mini instead, so your PCB is a lot smaller and thus cheaper to produce. Surface mount components are small and as long as you use the larger sizes (1205 or 0805 for two-lead components like resistors, and SOIC for the IC packages), they are not significantly harder to solder than through-hole stuff, especially on a professionally made PCB where you have a solder mask.

[Nikolas_A]

When you're wiring, it's better to tie wires togerther in a loom. Check my tutorial here:

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php/topic,2948.0.html

[pappavis]

FYI. A short update.

 

The very early WIP designversion of the fuelpumps on righthandside of MiG-21bis.

After >=25hrs of youtube vids, and latenights the reuslt below can be seen.

 

Tooling used: KiCAD, FreeCAD.

 

 

[BravoYankee4]

Looking good. It is like a new dawn when you have started doing this and there is no way going back ;)