Just wonder why there is no forum for PCB design?

 

Its discussed in the other fora. Like "General Electronics Chat" and "The Projects Forum".
You can use the forum search function, which returns over 900 postings on the subject.

 

Generally PCB design is considered straight forward electronics. We get lots of spammers on the subject, which is a automatic lifetime ban and a removed thread.

There is the basic assumption you know electronics if you are ready to design a PCB. Back in the 1970's I made my own using a sharpy, a blank board, and ferric cloride. I was 14 years old. It is not that hard.

If you want to know how we have several how to articles in the Completed Projects forum, including one from me.

 

There is the basic assumption you know electronics if you are ready to design a PCB. Back in the 1970's I made my own using a sharpy, a blank board, and ferric cloride. I was 14 years old. It is not that hard.

Perhaps this is not the place where people believe PCB design play an important role in producing a high quality, low cost, less noise,...
Nevermind

 

No, but designing PCBs is only part of the process, and isn't truly that hard. I still make my own boards, as do many people. If you have a question on how to do it ask, you will get answers from people in the know. The design a PCB supports is considerably more important than the PCB itself. Enough so that it is a lot more important to breadboard the design and test it than to waste a lot of time designing a PCB for something that doesn't work.

I don't know your qualifications, but I do know mine. I'm very sure of what I speak.

If you represent a board house I would be careful, we regularly nail spammers trying to sell this particular product. It can be made in quantity cheaper than DIY, but for a one of a kind DIY is more than adequate.

In short, we don't have it because it is not needed. The subject is discussed, in depth, but wasting a forum that would rarely be used and spammed to death is not practical.

 

The art and science of making Printed Circuit Boards would fill a book, or two. So would the art and science of making a box to contain the finished electronic products. If this site saw three requests per month, either of those subjects might seem important enough to categorize, but it doesn't. This is a teaching site. The amateurs don't need sophisticated circuit boards and the pros (usually) don't need help. When help is needed, the Circuit Board production businesses can, and do, provide deadly accurate and up-to-date information which is specific to the product they are getting paid for.

IMO, That's why Circuit Boards are not a major part of this site.

 

Perhaps this is not the place where people believe PCB design play an important role in producing a high quality, low cost, less noise,...

But you're wrong in believing that. It is that the audience this forum addresses has a broad range of experience and requirements. From a simple board that serves as a platform for an LED Blinky, to a high quality audio processor, to a microcontroller board for a custom function. (...but a small sample of examples). Each has its own set of requirements.

Have you performed the search I suggested? I suggest not. In fact, after your last post I wonder if you'll even see this and the other responses. Your mind appears to have been made up already. However, I decided to post this for the people who find this thread in the future.

 

I agree with #12's and Wendy's description on why a PCB design thread would not be warranted. Opening a specific request for assistance in the chat or projects forums is the place to do it.

....No, but designing PCBs is only part of the process, and isn't truly that hard.......

Designing a PCB isn't hard, but there is a huge difference between a well laid out PCB and a board laid out by a newbie. You become a good PCB designer by designing a lot of PCBs while applying your understanding of electronics. It is a skill, almost an art, requiring a lot of practice before you become good at it.

 

I don't know your qualifications, but I do know mine. I'm very sure of what I speak.
If you represent a board house I would be careful, we regularly nail spammers trying to sell this particular product. It can be made in quantity cheaper than DIY, but for a one of a kind DIY is more than adequate.

OK. But Im not going to sell any product on this site. I just need some help on my electronics assignment project. And just give a suggestion

Have you performed the search I suggested? I suggest not. In fact, after your last post I wonder if you'll even see this and the other responses. Your mind appears to have been made up already. However, I decided to post this for the people who find this thread in the future.

Yes. I done my search. Thanks, and sorry for not mention it to you.

 

OK. But Im not going to sell any product on this site. I just need some help on my electronics assignment project. And just give a suggestion..

I don't speak for everyone here but I find it a pain it the butt in general to help people out cause they get lazy and throw something together and then post it up here asking for help and then someone is kind enough to redesign the pcb to make it better and more professional and they take all the credit for the build and don't list the people who really helped out.. That being said we have a couple posts here I believe for pcb design and Dave's Jones did a great PCB design pdf ... Also I can't see why someone wouldn't help you with a design if posted and have seen many other people requesting help with design .. But I see no need to make separate pcb design area since it's part of a project and we already have a Project area ...

 

Actually there is a lot forum about PCB design, maybe you do not find them.
Here is a gathering page --- > http://e-gather.ui3g.com/

If you need a PCB design subforms, electro-tech-online.com has one.
http://www.electro-tech-online.com/forums/circuit-simulation-pcb-design/

Otherwise, that topic is normally discussed under General Electronics Chat. Even on Electro-tech-online, the posts on PCB design are normally under General - most people don't realize there is a PCB specific subforum there.

 

I'll have to explore that on ETO. My wish as a newbie would be that some one could/would write a tutorial on PCB/circuit design. Stuff that you guy's just do without thinking. Stuff like adding TVS diodes or other wise protecting from spikes in a circuit. And other small stuff that people over look when learning.

 

.................. Stuff that you guy's just do without thinking. Stuff like adding TVS diodes or other wise protecting from spikes in a circuit................

SB, that is electrical engineering, not PCB design. Don't get me wrong. I would love a more developed PCB section here but, there are apples and then there are oranges.

PCB TUTORIAL SECTION, when do we want it? NOW
PCB TUTORIAL SECTION, when do we want it? NOW
PCB TUTORIAL SECTION, when do we want it? NOW

 

SB, that is electrical engineering, not PCB design

Would you then consider doing a tutorial on the "electrical engineering" side of circuits? Please? I'm not having any luck finding either online or in a book the ins and outs of this type of thing. And I have bought a lot of books and spent much time online looking.

For a newbie that wants to learn and understand, there isn't anything other than forums like AAC and ETO to get answers. And the guy's that do know, for the most part, don't want to share unless you know the "exact" terminology when asking the questions. And if you know the "exact" terminology, you wouldn't need to ask. A catch 22.

 

I will gladly assist/tutor anyone on any topic that I feel I am competent in, especially with someone like you. You have contributed a lot on this forum.

............. And the guy's that do know, for the most part, don't want to share unless you know the "exact" terminology when asking the questions......

There is a language for every skill and the first thing that must be learned is the vocabulary of that skill. Knowing the meaning of the words is a huge a large part of learning a skill. So there is merit to the saying, "knowing the right question to ask."

@Wendy
Would a PCB Tutorial section work in the Completed Projects area?

 

I will gladly assist/tutor anyone on any topic that I feel I am competent in, especially with someone like you. You have contributed a lot on this forum.


There is a language for every skill and the first thing that must be learned is the vocabulary of that skill. Knowing the meaning of the words is a huge a large part of learning a skill. So there is merit to the saying, "knowing the right question to ask."

@Wendy
Would a PCB Tutorial section work in the Completed Projects area?

I don't think a PCB Tutorial section would be properly located in Complete Projects (it's NOT a completed project -- as least as I'm envisioning it). I should either go in the E-Book (not that I am suggesting that) or as a Technical Article (for which you can get paid if you write one that is accepted).

 

Would you then consider doing a tutorial on the "electrical engineering" side of circuits? Please? I'm not having any luck finding either online or in a book the ins and outs of this type of thing. And I have bought a lot of books and spent much time online looking.

For a newbie that wants to learn and understand, there isn't anything other than forums like AAC and ETO to get answers. And the guy's that do know, for the most part, don't want to share unless you know the "exact" terminology when asking the questions. And if you know the "exact" terminology, you wouldn't need to ask. A catch 22.

It is a bit of a Catch-22, like many things in many fields. PCB design is very much an art as much as a science. Also, there are lots of "tricks" that are all but essential to get one board to work while being excessive overkill on most other boards. That alone makes it very hard to try to put together a general purpose tutorial. Related to that are that PCB technologies range all the way from someone drawing the circuit on a board with a resist pin to someone doing high-density BGA designs to someone doing a gigahertz RF design. Very difference worlds, very different issues, very different techniques and even that exact terminology you speak of varies across those different applications.

I'm not opposed to a PCB forum, per se, but I do question whether there is really enough traffic to warrant the additional forum (though I would support it before I would support a forum for treadmill repairs, as was recently requested).

If we did create a PCB forum, I think it should immediately have some subfora to make it useful (but the more subfora, the greater the complexity of navigating the boards to find things). The subfora that immediately come to my mind are:
PCB Layout Tools -- focused on how to use specific tools (and perhaps how to work with PCB houses).
DIY PCB Making -- focused on how to make your own boards.
Low Speed PCB Design -- focused on non-critical PCB design issues, mostly aimed at beginners.
Multilayer and High Density PCB Design -- focused on high pin-count, high trace density, and multilayer designs.
High Speed PCB Design -- focused on issues associated with high speed analog and digital designs, including RF.
EMI/EMC -- focused on electromagnetic interference reduction and compliance techniques.

There's almost certainly more (and the EMI/EMC could probably be absorbed into the High Speed forum).

I think each of these subfora could benefit from one or more articles (maintained as a list of thread in a single sticky for each subforum) that provide an appropriate overview or tutorial of that subtopic.

 

@WBahn

I agree that a PCB forum would not be as trafficked as other forums. Still, there are a fair number of us that are avid PCB makers that would definitely service a PCB forum. I don't see the need for a multi-section PCB forum, too much organization. I would love to see a single PCB section that would just group the PCB related threads together.

Another way this could happen is to change the "Completed projects collection" into the "Completed Projects and Construction methods" section. From what I can tell, the Completed Projects section, has very little traffic. What would it hurt if the purpose of that section were to be expanded?

 

@WBahn

I agree that a PCB forum would not be as trafficked as other forums. Still, there are a fair number of us that are avid PCB makers that would definitely service a PCB forum. I don't see the need for a multi-section PCB forum, too much organization. I would love to see a single PCB section that would just group the PCB related threads together.

Another way this could happen is to change the "Completed projects collection" into the "Completed Projects and Construction methods" section. From what I can tell, the Completed Projects section, has very little traffic. What would it hurt if the purpose of that section were to be expanded?

In the 1950s, not a lot of people talked about homosexuality or various addictions. Somehow they were given a forum and now we see one of the two topics covered on any given evening of prime time tv.

My point, maybe people are not talking about PCB construction because there is not a forum for pcb construction.

 

I would like to see a dedicated place for PCB questions and comments. However, I don't think that is what @shortbus is asking for, is it? I thought it was determined that circuit design was really what he was after.

As to the merits of having a PCB forum, why not give it a try and see how it works out? As to having a bunch of subdivisions, I think that's overkill at this point. As to how easy it is to design a PCB, that depends on the complexity of the circuit, what components are required, whether or not footprints for those components exist, how many layers the PCB requires, and a myriad of other factors. Throwing an 8-pin dip or two, and a few other through-hole components together is easy; not all circuits are that simple.