Any advice on a started book and maybe some simple software that would let me diagram things a bit better? Obviously you guys have you stuff together.

No books to recommend. I learned in a college drafting class for electronics 4 decades ago; don't think they teach that anymore... Software won't enforce many of the guidelines used in well drawn schematics.

Study schematic style used in datasheets. Some are poorly drawn but, fortunately, they're the exception.

I use the freeware version of Eagle. It appears that @Bernard uses pencil and paper. IIRC, @AnalogKid uses something like Paint.

Some say there's a steep learning curve for Eagle. I didn't find that to be the case. I used something like ExpressPCB or PCBExpress before finding Eagle. Some like KiCad.

 

I use an old version of ViewDraw/DxDesigner/Mentor, and I'm transitioning (very slowly) to Eagle. One of the moderators uses Paint. My schematics look much better than what I post; the PDF converter has issues.

A schematic both tells the story of the design, and is the control document for the design. As a story has a beginning, middle, and end, the signals should flow from left to right. By convention, positive power sources are toward the top (with upward-pointing arrows or symbols) and negative sources toward the bottom (with downward-pointing symbols). Ground symbols ***always*** point down.

With that up-down-left-right awareness, go surfing for schematics: audio amplifiers, radio circuits, 555 circuits, whatever. Stare at enough of them and you will see patterns emerge.

Put *every* part on the schematic, including unused sections of things like quad opamps and logic gates. This forces you to attend to the unused pins. If you are heading toward a pc board layout, put the mounting holes on the schematic; some of them might want to be grounded, making the mounting hole an electronic component.

ak

 

Sorry about the delay in posting, but I had to work on it last night instead.

So the circuit definitely works and I'm assuming the reason the last load stays on longer is because the three outputs are linked together. So it is basically staying on three times as long. I can definitely live with it as is and am grateful for the help. If you have any ideas on increasing the length a bit more (doubling perhaps), I'd also be interested in hearing it.

Since the laser modules are supposed to arrive today, I had used another 5mm LED as a substitute. I'll wire in the modules tonight so I can see what the final product looks like. My son was already really into it. So, thank you very much!

Sincerely,
James B

I use an old version of ViewDraw/DxDesigner/Mentor, and I'm transitioning (very slowly) to Eagle. One of the moderators uses Paint. The results look much better than what I post; the PDF converter has issues.

A schematic both tells the story of the design, and is the control document for the design. As a story has a beginning, middle, and end, the signals should flow from left to right. By convention, positive power sources are toward the top (with upward-pointing arrows of symbols) and negative sources toward the bottom (with downward-pointing symbols). Ground symbols ***always*** point down.

With that up-down-left-right awareness, go surfing for schematics: audio amplifiers, radio circuits, 555 circuits, whatever. Stare at enough of them and you will see patterns emerge.

Put *every* part on the schematic, including unused sections of things like quad opamps and logic gates. This forces you to attend to the unused pins. If you are heading toward a pc board layout, put the mounting holes on the schematic; some of them might want to be grounded, making the mounting hole an electronic component.

ak