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Intro to modern hardware prototyping

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Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#11

Post by horigome »

impostervt wrote: post #8

I've been getting into playing with Arduino's and Photons, and have some ideas that I'd like to THINK about taking to market, but all of these sort of intros seem to stop at the PCB stage. They leave off the part about how to get an enclosure made - designing one, prototyping it, injection molding, etc. I think it's because that's where things get really expensive...

That's definitely one reason for the lack of step-by-step tutorials. Another one is that each product is so unique, with its own needs when it comes to later prototyping phase and then manufacturing.

Also, designing a enclosure is a completely different beast. Nowadays you would typically start out by 3D printing stuff and then later on in the process get it manufactured by injection molding. That means going to the factory and making sure that everything is set up right before they start the manufacturing the part. Again a very ad hoc procedure that's unique for every product.

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#12

Post by DigitalJack »

impostervt wrote: post #8

I've been getting into playing with Arduino's and Photons, and have some ideas that I'd like to THINK about taking to market, but all of these sort of intros seem to stop at the PCB stage. They leave off the part about how to get an enclosure made - designing one, prototyping it, injection molding, etc. I think it's because that's where things get really expensive...

you might be interested in this: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-gui...

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#13

Post by impostervt »

horigome wrote: post #11
impostervt wrote: post #8

I've been getting into playing with Arduino's and Photons, and have some ideas that I'd like to THINK about taking to market, but all of these sort of intros seem to stop at the PCB stage. They leave off the part about how to get an enclosure made - designing one, prototyping it, injection molding, etc. I think it's because that's where things get really expensive...

That's definitely one reason for the lack of step-by-step tutorials. Another one is that each product is so unique, with its own needs when it comes to later prototyping phase and then manufacturing. Also, designing a enclosure is a completely different beast. Nowadays you would typically start out by 3D printing stuff and then later on in the process get it manufactured by injection molding. That means going to the…

Sure, I get that. I guess I'd still like to hear some stories from small companies that went through it.

How do you find someone who can 3d print it for you?

For that matter, how do you find someone who can do the design for you (and the experience to do it right)?

Did you get it done locally, or in China?

What are some pitfalls to look out for?

How can you save money?

How long does this step take?

etc.

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#14

Post by wgj »

krapht wrote: post #4

Eh, Eagle in this day in age? If you're going cheap, I'd stick with KiCAD. It's unintuitive, like GIMP vs Photoshop, but gets the job done with no restrictions on functionality. I've also heard decent things about CircuitMaker, but never used it. If you have any academic links at all though, or don't mind piracy, I'd grab a student edition of Altium Designer. Solidworks too if you can get it for mechanical modeling.…

The team at CERN has made big improvements to KiCad, including the push and shove router: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCG4daPvuVI

Another good reason to think about KiCad is if you care about open formats (vs. Altium for example.) CERN's own statement [1]: "We think that KiCad can do to PCB design what the gcc compiler did to software: ensure there are no artificial barriers to sharing so that design and development knowledge can flow more freely."

[1] http://www.ohwr.org/projects/cern-kicad/wiki

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#15

Post by [deleted] »

krapht wrote: post #9
nearengine wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious if you've heard about the sale of CadSoft to AutoDesk, I was about to write Eagle off myself but I'm hoping they give it a little love. http://www.premierfarnell.com/content/sale-cadsoft-0

Yeah, I heard about it. I think Eagle is a sinking ship. The low-end PCB design software market is going to be swallowed up by KiCAD, which has been getting much better ever since CERN decided to sponsor it. Can't beat free and unencumbered. Thank the European taxpayer and move on, IMO. The market is going to be KiCAD at the bottom, Altium Designer / Pads / Orcad in the middle, then Zuken / Allegro / Expedition at th…

[deleted]

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#16

Post by [deleted] »

krapht wrote: post #4

Eh, Eagle in this day in age? If you're going cheap, I'd stick with KiCAD. It's unintuitive, like GIMP vs Photoshop, but gets the job done with no restrictions on functionality. I've also heard decent things about CircuitMaker, but never used it. If you have any academic links at all though, or don't mind piracy, I'd grab a student edition of Altium Designer. Solidworks too if you can get it for mechanical modeling.…

[deleted]

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#17

Post by bizzleDawg »

krapht wrote: post #4

Eh, Eagle in this day in age? If you're going cheap, I'd stick with KiCAD. It's unintuitive, like GIMP vs Photoshop, but gets the job done with no restrictions on functionality. I've also heard decent things about CircuitMaker, but never used it. If you have any academic links at all though, or don't mind piracy, I'd grab a student edition of Altium Designer. Solidworks too if you can get it for mechanical modeling.…

I've used KiCAD for a bunch of 2 layer and 4 layer prototypes for my company. The GIMP vs. Photoshop comparison is very accurate in my opinion!

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#18

Post by monocasa »

krapht wrote: post #4

Eh, Eagle in this day in age? If you're going cheap, I'd stick with KiCAD. It's unintuitive, like GIMP vs Photoshop, but gets the job done with no restrictions on functionality. I've also heard decent things about CircuitMaker, but never used it. If you have any academic links at all though, or don't mind piracy, I'd grab a student edition of Altium Designer. Solidworks too if you can get it for mechanical modeling.…

Holy shit, that JLink is expensive. What does it get me more than the JTAGFTDIOpenOCDGDB setup that I have currently, who's boards cost my ~$100 in super low volume?

Re: Intro to modern hardware prototyping

#19

Post by bizzleDawg »

As an addition to this, it might be useful to go into more detail on the other aspects of making a hardware based MVP - i.e. 3D design, laser cutting and 3d printing.

Personally, I've alway gone in for using openSCAD[1] for the 3d design aspects, though clearly that's when approaching the problem as a programmer! I've always had laser cutting done by external services, but have a form labs 2 and repraps for printing parts. Perhaps this would justify a separate blog?

[1] http://www.openscad.org/

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