gEDA-user: Another couple of PCBs made with gEDA/PCB

[Daniel Nilsson <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I took a couple of pictures on two PCBs that I made with gEDA and PCB,
figured someone might be interested to see how they came out;

http://oden.homeip.net/~daniel/geda/bare_pcb_top.jpg
http://oden.homeip.net/~daniel/geda/bare_pcb_bottom.jpg
http://oden.homeip.net/~daniel/geda/daq_conn_assembly.jpg
http://oden.homeip.net/~daniel/geda/charge_load_assembly.jpg

I made two separate layouts in PCB and then combined both to one panel
and had Advanced Circuits fab the PCB. It was easy enough to cut
the panel myself into the two circuit boards. The functions of the
daq_conn board is to act as a connection box for a data acquisition
board to allow connecting several DSUB connectors into one DAQ
board. This is basically just a bunch of connectors. The second design
is for discharging rechargeable batteries with a variable load while
measuring the discharge current. There are also some watchdog
functionality on that board later board.

I found a few issues while assembling these PCBs, mostly related to
footprint problems. The only problem that I have found so far related
to the symbols part of gEDA/PCB is the RADIAL_CAN 200 footprint that I
used for the electrolytic caps. The finished hole using this footprint
is very small and made it hard to mount the caps. Not sure if this
footprint was intended for those kinds of caps though, but if it is it
should have larger holes and also an indication in silk which pin is
the positive of the polarized cap.

Another thing I would do differently next time is to increase the size
of the text on the silk screen layer. It comes out readable, but it
could be larger to make it easier to see.

-- 
Daniel Nilsson