[HN Gopher] Show HN: A place for feedback on PCB designs
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Show HN: A place for feedback on PCB designs
Author : zciwor
Score : 63 points
Date : 2021-12-06 13:39 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.postdrc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.postdrc.com)
| jpm_sd wrote:
| Altium offers a simplified free version that's web based and
| allows for collaborative review. I've never used it though.
|
| https://circuitmaker.com/
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CircuitMaker
| pedalpete wrote:
| This is what I was thinking. Our hardware engineer shares his
| designs with us using Altium. I don't even have to have a
| license to view it on the web. We're not in the same
| organization either. He is a contractor, the license is his,
| and he can share it with whomever he wants via email like a
| google doc.
| AYBABTME wrote:
| It would be cool if GitHub allowed rich interaction with PCB
| files like this. I guess it would help with open hardware design.
| azalemeth wrote:
| Looks good. Re: the site - the silkscreen / statement of which
| chip is which would be very helpful. I imagine you could make a
| shiny html canvas area and permit per-tag feedback on specific
| points (bonus points for a floodfill-detected 'label net'
| tool...)
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| Rich annotations on boards would be nice. More than what you can
| normally squeeze onto non-printing layers. I don't mean as a
| feature to add to the site, I mean the entire site IS partly this
| and I like the idea.
|
| A way to discuss and explain things about a pcb that aren't
| easily written right on the pcb, like what happens in classrooms.
|
| I often see myself drawing something a certain way on a board
| going up on github/pcbway/oshpark, and thinking someone else is
| going to "fix" this some day because it's not obvious why this
| bit here is drawn exactly this way, and I'm not cluttering up
| dwg.user with a paragraph of text for every other square cm...
|
| And surely I am guilty of committing that same crime myself come
| to think of it.
|
| This could help with that.
| zciwor wrote:
| This is very helpful feedback, thanks! My mind goes to a few
| places when you talk about rich annotations on boards.
| Something like virtual sticky notes that are tied to specific
| areas on the design might be kind of fun. I hope to avoid just
| a list of screen grabs and paragraphs of text on the page.
| [deleted]
| sigmaprimus wrote:
| I think it is a nice idea. I think having a place to provide
| eagle files might be an idea as I found myself chasing traces
| that at first appeared to be NC antennas that ended up being just
| a vertically flipped image I misread. It makes things a lot
| easier to view multiple layers in a single image, if that makes
| sense.
|
| Regarding your circuit example... have You considered providing
| holes for mounting of heatsinks into account? I know there are
| sticky backed heatsinks available like those used on stepper
| drivers but I have always been partial to clips or screws,
| especially on power transistors. Likewise providing board mounts
| and clearances from board edges for dielectric properties is also
| a good idea.
| zciwor wrote:
| Thanks for your note, I agree. I think it would be great to
| have a much better viewer. I worry about relying on raw design
| files because the EDA space is so fragmented. Everyone is using
| different tools and they really don't make it easy to bounce
| between design suites. Maybe an embedded Gerber viewer would be
| better suited?
| sigmaprimus wrote:
| That would be a nice addition, I attempted to right click
| save images to import into inkscape and stack them myself
| with transparency but I couldn't. Normally I would just
| printscreen then cut and paste through paint and then import
| but Im using a new laptop with compact keyboard(while I drink
| my coffee and wake up) and cant find the prntscrn function
| key through the rainbow backlight.
|
| I would think adding multiple options would be best but then
| again if You did open it up, You may also run into people
| using the forum for unrelated or malicious files.
|
| On a side note, I recently acquired an Ortur laser master 2
| pro and a 6040 CNC desktop router and am building a tool
| chain for small scale, high turn around PCB production
| (Mainly for my own personal us but would be willing to share
| out a portion of my eventual production capacity). I would
| imagine there are many other people doing the same thing and
| that may be another resource your site may want to
| investigate. Especially given the ever growing shipping times
| for overseas products.
| zciwor wrote:
| That is a great thought on the high turn PCB production.
| You will have to keep me updated on your progress as you
| get up and running. Although, I'm not sure how to share
| contact info inside of HN? My Twitter is linked in the
| about page of the postDRC app if you're interested in
| connecting.
| vulcan01 wrote:
| Click on your name in the top right corner and add
| contact info in your 'about' section. Then, when others
| click on your username, it will show them your about
| page.
| zciwor wrote:
| Going from a large corporate environment with strict design
| reviews, to the only hardware adept person on my small team I was
| really missing some sort of feedback on some of my (open source)
| designs. Reddit.com/r/printedcircuitboards roughly serves as
| this, but I thought it could be fun to spin up something purpose
| built.
|
| The hope is to build a nice environment to get some fresh eyes on
| a new PCB design before you wait 2-3 weeks to get your PCBs
| built. The schematic gets shown in a PDF viewer and any uploaded
| Gerber files are converted to SVG and displayed for reference.
|
| Long term, I would love to see if this can grow into a repository
| of open source hardware that could easily be indexed and
| referenced for inspiration.
|
| Obviously, please don't post any IP protected designs here.
| foo92691 wrote:
| In my experience, ALL designs at $corp are "IP protected."
| mmastrac wrote:
| /r/printedcircuitboards seems to be filled with spam. Looks
| like /r/PrintedCircuitBoard/ is the correct one.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| Great idea, thank you.
|
| Haha ok that sounded like I'm a out to run off and clone it, no
| I'm a out to upload a few boards, because you know you can double
| dip just like the dating sites putting multiple different
| audiences in front of the same back end, and make a seemingly
| totally different, differently marketed site where you show off
| your designs and get likes and a place to humble brag and stuff,
| and you know that's what I want, since you know I'm definitely
| only posting boards I already think are jewels. :)
| MayeulC wrote:
| Using Firefox here. When I click the first link, I briefly see a
| layout, then the schematics pdf replaces the whole page,
| preventing me from seeing anything else.
| zciwor wrote:
| Oh, great datapoint. I'll try to recreate. Thanks for the heads
| up!
| triactual wrote:
| I love this idea. As someone mentioned, leaving the safety
| blanket of a good team makes personal projects a little nerve-
| wracking. I've only looked on mobile but it would be nice to be
| able to copy-paste part numbers off the schematic (use case is
| looking up a datasheet, maybe there's a slicker idea...).
| e-_pusher wrote:
| Neat idea, here is a few suggestions:
|
| - you should post the solder mask and paste layers. Can't review
| any component soldering issues without those.
|
| - part assembly layer, same deal as above.
|
| - stackup. You would need this to review anything more than a 2
| layer board.
|
| Question- have you tried overlaying the renders for different
| layers of the board? It is hard to review the one example you
| have on the website. The bottom and top layers are in different
| places so I have to mentally connect dots.
| vitpeppar wrote:
| Nice job, this resonates with me that did a lot of hobby PCBs in
| my spare time.
|
| Posted some comments on your example PCB but the newlines got
| removed and it turned into a wall of text.
| jareklupinski wrote:
| just uploaded my design, let's see what happens :)
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