making your own printed board

Thread Starter

ddickey

Joined Sep 28, 2011
55
Has anyone had experience with printing your circuit off of multisim onto magazine paper then ironing that onto a sheet of copper?
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Nerdegutta pointed out my thread,

How I make PCBs

I like wax paper because it is a lot cheaper than magazines, and pretty effective. The basic techniques are similar though.

I may eventually end up gong to photographic methods for the same reasons though. Double sided alignment is a major pain.
 

K7GUH

Joined Jan 28, 2011
190
I will watch your progress with considerable interest. I'm not rich enough to hire someone to do onesie-twosie quantities, and most of the circuits I'd like to build aren't suitable to dead-bug assembly.
 

Thread Starter

ddickey

Joined Sep 28, 2011
55
If someone wants to convert my schematics to a pcb design I'll give you a few bucks for your time. I just can't seem to get it to work. For instance, I can't find a schematic for a 3 digit 7 segemtn display. Or when I do get soemthing put together there are errors all over and I can't figure out how to fix them.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Nerdegutta pointed out my thread,

How I make PCBs

I like wax paper because it is a lot cheaper than magazines, and pretty effective. The basic techniques are similar though.

I may eventually end up gong to photographic methods for the same reasons though. Double sided alignment is a major pain.
Actually nothing is cheaper than using the tons of junk mail that you get every day. I get one magazine type that is the perfect 8x10 size, I don't ev3en have to adjust the printer.

I have had mixed results with wax paper but I do like the fact that you can see through it making it easier to line up.

How does the photographic method make it easier to align then toner transfer method? Seems that would be pretty much the same or is it the slight distortion of the transfer that makes two sided more challenging?
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
If someone wants to convert my schematics to a pcb design I'll give you a few bucks for your time. I just can't seem to get it to work. For instance, I can't find a schematic for a 3 digit 7 segemtn display. Or when I do get soemthing put together there are errors all over and I can't figure out how to fix them.
It's no fun if someone else does it. Take a look at Express PCB and Express Schematic. Both very easy to use. There is probably better software out there but the learning curve is going to be greater.

7 segment displays are fairly simple.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_6/chpt_7/9.html

The article uses a BCD-to-7seg latch/decoder/driver but I have used shift registers. There are several ways you can drive them.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I use PCB Express. I have made many components from scratch for my library, both for the schematic and the physical part. We can probably help, depending on the software.
 

Thread Starter

ddickey

Joined Sep 28, 2011
55
I tried but didn't work. It was so frustrating I just said screw it and shut off the computer. No I'm reconsidering as the project would look nice on board.
 

Thread Starter

ddickey

Joined Sep 28, 2011
55
I'm going to downlaod express PCB and try again here in a few minutes. I've tried so many i can't remember. I have multisim and Ultiboard. Is this worth pursueing?
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
Don't cross wires over components. One of the goals for a schematic, is to be clear, simple*, and easy to read.

*simple = according to what the drawn device is supposed to to.

And if your schematic program has any kind of error checking - use it!

I use Eagle and use the Electrical Rule Check all the time.
 
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