[hackpgh-discuss] Re: PCB class
- From: Jeremy Herrman <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: hackpgh-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 11:44:03 -0400
I'm also very interested in this class - especially the thought process
that goes into routing, traces etc.
For conflicts with your available dates, I feel it's worth mentioning that
Steel City Ruby Conf is on August 3rd-4th.
Thanks!
Jeremy
On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 10:55 AM, Matthew Beckler <matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>
>
> On 05/23/2012 10:13 AM, Doug Philips wrote:
>>
>> Hey Matt,
>>
>> Glad you're still alive and kickin'!
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 5:31 PM, Matthew Beckler<matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> As many of you know I'm going to be teaching a PCB class with Kicad
>>> coming
>>> up in a few weeks. While it's a good software EDA package, and I know it
>>> well, what I'm struggling most with is to determine the proper scope.
>>
>>
>> Given the lack of advertising, promotion, etc. on this, I'm thinking
>> we'll probably only get shop members at the class. That'd be OK, but I
>> wanted to raise the possibility of postponing the class date to allow
>> for more outreach/PR, etc. as well as getting the scope worked out?
>
>
> That's a good point, I forgot we usually like to have a month of
> get-the-word-out before each class. I'm totally amenable to postponing the
> class if that would work better. Here are the weekends I am free this
> summer:
>
> June 23/24
> June 30/31
> July 7/8
> July 14/15
> August 4/5 (MF Chicago, anyone going?)
> August 11/12
> August 18/19
> August 25/26
>
>
>>
>>
>>> think a good group discussion should work just fine. I'm also planning
to
>>> be
>>> at the shop this Friday to work on the class plan (and ideally FiniSH
>>> IT!!!)
>>
>>
>> Perfect!
>>
>>
>>> Morning session: How to go from a breadboard circuit to a schematic
>>> How schematics work, how we represent real work parts with symbols
>>> Start with a real circuit that I can make on a breadboard
>>> Perhaps a little uC-based RGB led toy?
>>> Learn how to enter schematics into Kicad
>>
>>
>> That all sounds good.
>>
>>
>>> Learn about how to make your own new schematic symbols
>>
>>
>> That seems kind of ambitious? Do we have some kind of open source
>> library that we can contribute back to?
>> I'm just concerned that this one item alone could take most of an hour...
>
>
> That's a good point. Usually the existing schematic symbols are good
enough
> for almost everything you need to do, but once or twice I've had to make
new
> schematic symbols (the wii nunchuck, for example, and also a brand-new
> microcontroller we used in the blinky kits, both required new schematic
> symbols).
>
> All the symbols/footprints built into Kicad are open source, and there are
> lots of people online who build and share their symbols/footprints with
the
> world under open licenses.
>
>
>>
>>
>>> Afternoon session: How to go from a schematic to a PCB
>>
>> ... Most of this is over my head, so I have no idea how ambitious (or
>> mundane!) it is...
>>>
>>> Maybe talk about component selection?
>>
>> Wouldn't that be part of the morning class going from breadboard to
>> schematic? (Again, I'm a noob, so perhaps I don't understand...)
>
>
> Yeah, I'm not sure where this would fit properly. Probably more in the
> breadboard->schematic part, you're right. Part of it is related to the PCB
> though, in that you probably don't want to pick teeny-tiny SMT parts if
> you're aiming to make it easy to assemble, you know? Let's chat on friday.
>
>
>>
>>> Maybe have a "come back and solder up your pcb" 2-3 weeks later?
>>
>>
>> Or maybe piggy back on to another learn to solder class? (we'd still
>> limit the total class size)
>
>
> I like this idea.
>
>
> Also I just talked to my PCB guy (@laen from DorkbotPDX) and worked out a
> way for us to get all our PCBs fabricated. He'll then ship them all to me
as
> a big panel, and I can separate them in time for the come-back soldering
> class.
>
> -Matthew
>
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