9 ms·

How to turn an Arduino-based proof of concept into a final prototype

49 points by zwtaylor 11y ago

atmosx 11y ago
Are there any books for non-engineers, that go from basic concepts up to PCB design? UPDATE: Not sure if it's going up to PCB design but apparently this one[1] seems to be the most praised on Amazon UK. [1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect...
- digitaljunky 11y ago
  I learned a lot about the basics with "Getting started in Electronics" by Forrest M. Mims III, it's very (very) accessible and I find the drawings very amusing. Or else you have the Bible of the trade, or "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill that just came out for a third edition. It's an incredibly comprehensive guide but you'd better have some free time ahead if you want to read through it all :)
  - bliti 11y ago
    Agree with you. The Forrest Mims books are concise and written in a very simple manner without dumbing things down. His collection of the basics which is about four small volumes, will cost you about $50 in total. Money very well spent.
- tdicola 11y ago
  Check out Chris Gammell's Contextual Electronics course about board design with KiCad: https://contextualelectronics.com/ https://contextualelectronics.com/ The KiCard course is now free and great at walking through how to use KiCad to design boards: https://contextualelectronics.com/course/kicad-tutorial/ https://contextualelectronics.com/course/kicad-tutorial/
  - malcolmputer 11y ago
    1. Contextual Electronics does have a really good course on kicad. 2. Kicad is a very good PCB software package. Word of warning though, kicad is currently in a state of "flux" with the latest stable from 2013, and the bleeding edge versions having all of the features you want to use. I personally use nightly builds and the 2013 version quite often, and neither are what I would call professionally stable.
    - technomancy 11y ago
      One cool thing about the new version is that it uses s-expressions for its file format. I was disappointed to find that I couldn't perform rotation on a group of footprints at once, but once I took a look at the file format I found it was easy to load into Racket, do a little trig, and spit out the rotated forms: https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/blob/master/atreus.rkt#L160 https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/blob/master/atreus.rkt...
- malcolmputer 11y ago
  I can recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. It is very helpful in getting practical prototypes designed pretty quick. I sometimes still refer to it when I need something simple I haven't designed in a while.
arbuge 11y ago
Next question is how to go from final prototype into production... that can be pretty hard in practice. Indeed, calling a prototype "final" before looking at the manufacturing side of things might not be wise.
- digitaljunky 11y ago
  yeah I'm right in the middle of that problematic...if you have any advice I'm all ears (so to speak)!
  - malcolmputer 11y ago
    Honest advice? Hire someone to do it. There are so many things that you won't know about how to make things manufacture-able it would be worth your time and money to just pay a contractor/employee to optimize things for you. (shameless plug, my username @ gmail.com if you would like to discuss what services I can offer you)
    - atmosx 11y ago
      Thanks for the comments @malcolmputer. It would be nice to put some description to your profile, to spare some time stalking your online profile[1]. I'm designing a prototype for an application. If we reach up to the point where optimization/PCB design is needed, I'll drop a mail. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgalland https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgalland
      - malcolmputer 11y ago
        Yeah, I am still working on that. You will notice my HN profile is less than a day old.
    - digitaljunky 11y ago
      I'm a 23y.o guy launching its first product so saying that I don't have any money to hire someone is an understatement :) On the other hand, I have quite a lot of free time and a very versatile brain so I'll take my chance with that.
sjtrny 11y ago
Tip: to help make even smaller proof of concepts use a Teensy [1] instead of an Arduino. [1] https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/ https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/
Mahn 11y ago
Great article, lots of resources in there for someone getting started and your writing style is great too. Please do a follow up if you figure out the production part :)
- digitaljunky 11y ago
  hey thanks. I sure will add additional details along the road and probably write something else about manufacturing. Since it appears that it can be a very complicated (and costly) adventure, I contacted a local start-up incubator hoping to benefit form their expertise.

49 points by zwtaylor 11y ago

Are there any books for non-engineers, that go from basic concepts up to PCB design? UPDATE: Not sure if it's going up to PCB design but apparently this one[1] seems to be the most praised on Amazon UK. [1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect...

digitaljunky 11y ago
I learned a lot about the basics with "Getting started in Electronics" by Forrest M. Mims III, it's very (very) accessible and I find the drawings very amusing. Or else you have the Bible of the trade, or "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill that just came out for a third edition. It's an incredibly comprehensive guide but you'd better have some free time ahead if you want to read through it all :)
- bliti 11y ago
  Agree with you. The Forrest Mims books are concise and written in a very simple manner without dumbing things down. His collection of the basics which is about four small volumes, will cost you about $50 in total. Money very well spent.
tdicola 11y ago
Check out Chris Gammell's Contextual Electronics course about board design with KiCad: https://contextualelectronics.com/ https://contextualelectronics.com/ The KiCard course is now free and great at walking through how to use KiCad to design boards: https://contextualelectronics.com/course/kicad-tutorial/ https://contextualelectronics.com/course/kicad-tutorial/
- malcolmputer 11y ago
  1. Contextual Electronics does have a really good course on kicad. 2. Kicad is a very good PCB software package. Word of warning though, kicad is currently in a state of "flux" with the latest stable from 2013, and the bleeding edge versions having all of the features you want to use. I personally use nightly builds and the 2013 version quite often, and neither are what I would call professionally stable.
  - technomancy 11y ago
    One cool thing about the new version is that it uses s-expressions for its file format. I was disappointed to find that I couldn't perform rotation on a group of footprints at once, but once I took a look at the file format I found it was easy to load into Racket, do a little trig, and spit out the rotated forms: https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/blob/master/atreus.rkt#L160 https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/blob/master/atreus.rkt...
malcolmputer 11y ago
I can recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. It is very helpful in getting practical prototypes designed pretty quick. I sometimes still refer to it when I need something simple I haven't designed in a while.

arbuge 11y ago

Next question is how to go from final prototype into production... that can be pretty hard in practice. Indeed, calling a prototype "final" before looking at the manufacturing side of things might not be wise.

digitaljunky 11y ago
yeah I'm right in the middle of that problematic...if you have any advice I'm all ears (so to speak)!
- malcolmputer 11y ago
  Honest advice? Hire someone to do it. There are so many things that you won't know about how to make things manufacture-able it would be worth your time and money to just pay a contractor/employee to optimize things for you. (shameless plug, my username @ gmail.com if you would like to discuss what services I can offer you)
  - atmosx 11y ago
    Thanks for the comments @malcolmputer. It would be nice to put some description to your profile, to spare some time stalking your online profile[1]. I'm designing a prototype for an application. If we reach up to the point where optimization/PCB design is needed, I'll drop a mail. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgalland https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgalland
    - malcolmputer 11y ago
      Yeah, I am still working on that. You will notice my HN profile is less than a day old.
  - digitaljunky 11y ago
    I'm a 23y.o guy launching its first product so saying that I don't have any money to hire someone is an understatement :) On the other hand, I have quite a lot of free time and a very versatile brain so I'll take my chance with that.

sjtrny 11y ago

Tip: to help make even smaller proof of concepts use a Teensy [1] instead of an Arduino. [1] https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/ https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/

Mahn 11y ago

Great article, lots of resources in there for someone getting started and your writing style is great too. Please do a follow up if you figure out the production part :)

digitaljunky 11y ago
hey thanks. I sure will add additional details along the road and probably write something else about manufacturing. Since it appears that it can be a very complicated (and costly) adventure, I contacted a local start-up incubator hoping to benefit form their expertise.