Milling Artwork in Copper: PCB Router Bit Diameters and Other Tools to Get the Job Done Spring is a busy time of year in the garden. The yard brings chores, but with the right tools, time passes easily and pretty soon I’m enjoying my lawn chair. One of those chores is picking up all the dead leaves left from Autumn that remain in places they fell, blanketing areas of shrub beds and cement patio. For shrub beds, I use rake and hands to pick up leaves and throw them in the compost. For the patio, I fire up the pressure washer and Read Article Oh the Boards You Will Make: Tips for Beginners in Design & Electronics If there was ever a time to begin thinking about beginning your career as an electrical engineer, the time is right now! With the rise of so many electronics hardware startups, the advancements in circuitry and pcb design software, and the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, you’ve found yourself on a large and fast wave of industry. With the upbringing of so many companies and possibilities, the job market is very hot and yields Read Article Design for Manual Prototyping and Throw Off Your Restraints Learn to design a PCB for manual prototyping and hand assembly. Read Article Why Startup Transition is a Concern for Embedded Systems Do you have a morning ritual? I can barely function without mine. My brain has a hard time operating without a big breakfast, some piping hot coffee, and five minutes browsing through my inbox even when there are zero unread emails. Having a morning ritual for your embedded system is helpful too. While you don’t need to serve any coffee to your PCB’s microcontroller, you do need to ensure that it efficiently handles the transitional state during Read Article How Integrated PCB Libraries Can Lower Development Costs Editorial credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to developing new recipes for my kid. Just last week, I insisted on preparing the bolognese sauce from scratch as I tried to whip up a decent pasta dish. I ended up taking more time than I should have, as my son grew in frustration and hunger by the minute. That’s when I decided to just buy off-the-shelf pasta sauce next time. When I started working on electronics, I Read Article How to Create a PCB Schematic | Altium Designer There’s an important step in creating your PCB layout: How to make a schematic? You might feel overwhelmed with all of the options, but don’t worry! Whether you’ve got decades of experience in your pocket or just starting your design or engineering career, your PCB design begins with schematic capture. Below is a schematic capture tutorial in Altium Designer, covering everything from component access to wiring parts together into circuits. A PCB Read Article Better PCB Routing - How Altium Highlight Nets Regardless of how many PCBs I design, I always find myself having to regularly review network paths on the schematics layer and Altium highlight trace routes on PCBs. The complexity reminds me of a maze where only one path is the right one for a particular network. All the connections must be accurate as errors made here will come back to haunt you later in the form of redesigns. The best way to ensure network accuracy is by isolating it so that Read Article Starting Out in PCB Design with the Right Board Layout Software Recently my daughter-in-law posted a picture of my grandson’s feet along with the following statement: “I wonder where these feet will lead you in life my son, you are so full of curiosity and determination already.” As his grandfather, I already know for a fact that he is destined to become the most brilliant person ever to ever walk the face of the earth. Seriously though, wondering where our paths will take us in life is something that we will Read Article High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design In the world of PCB design, high-density interconnect boards are among the fastest growing designs that are surfacing. Offering lighter weight, faster transmission times, more real estate to place components, and a reduction in signal loss there are few downsides to implementing these designs into your device. In any industry, the push for better, faster, stronger is usually a consumer-driven force. It is no different here. The push for devices Read Article Light Dependant Resistors: The Fundamentals of Automatic Street Light Design I’m not usually afraid of darkness. In fact, I can’t fall asleep at all if any lights are left on. But a few nights ago, I desperately missed the familiar glow of street lights while attempting to observe sea turtles laying their eggs at a local beach. I missed out on an experience of a lifetime, hidden in pitch darkness. Of course, street lights might sound dull compared to the exciting electronics behind technologies like the Internet of Things Read Article RF and Microwave PCB Design with John Bushie from ASC This is an episode about RF and Microwave PCB Design as well as Design for Manufacturing or DFM and it will help you to understand material choices and where to get answers about high speed laminates. Read Article Great BOM Tools for Successfully Sourcing Your PCB Electronic Components Use your bill of materials for sourcing and supply chain management My friends think I’m neurotic for making so many lists. I always hand-write thorough lists before heading to the grocery store, budgeting my money, or just planning out my day. While it might seem obsessive, my lists help me stay on track and let me track my goals. Once you have finished your PCB design and you are ready to move to the testing and manufacturing phase, you will Read Article BOM Planning: Different Levels of Production There is one really great thing about social media and that is catching up with old friends. I connected with a high school friend who did a lot in his life including some great achievements in the world of Taekwondo. He talks about the different tournaments that he attends, the people that he associates with, and how he has progressed through the different levels of this discipline. There appears to be a lot more to Taekwondo than I would have Read Article 10:05 Getting Started with Design for Manufacturing [DFM] Getting Started with Design for Manufacturing is an Episode of the OnTrack Whiteboard Series. Join David Marrakchi as he gives an Introduction into Design for Manufacturing. How can you save 40% of time per production cycle and lots of money spent on re-spins? Learn some easy tricks that will help you get your design right the first time - every time. View the complete DFM Guidebook by David Marrakchi here. See All OnTrack Newsletters here. Watch Video Pin Swapping and Gate Swapping in Your PCB Layout to Clean Up Your Logic Rat Nest I recently moved into a new apartment, and it was time to unpack all of my electronics. When I reached into the box to pull out my audio cords, power cords, and extension cords, everything was a tangled, helpless mess. If I had taken more time to pack them properly, they probably would not have become tangled. If you are routing traces between an FPGA and external logic ICs on your PCB, your design might look like my mess of cords on moving day Read Article Circular Product Design and PCBs for a Healthier World The world of PCB design is a fast-moving and highly profitable sector. But with the rate of increase we are clearly seeing in the industry, it is apparent that if we are not careful, we may head into some stiff environmental issues that are too deep to repair. Thankfully the push we are seeing from environmental groups is equally correlated to the growth of the industry. The concept of a ‘circular economy’ is at the forefront of these qualms Read Article Peeling Back the Layers: Electronic PCB Stackup One of the first things you notice about the Grand Canyon when you visit is the incredible scenery. The canyon walls with their histories inscribed for all to see through the different colored layers of rocks and minerals are truly inspiring. I’m sure you could spend years and not even come close to discovering all the connections, materials, and creatures that live or have lived within those layered rock-faces. Because it’s hard for me to stop Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page152 Current page153 Page154 Page155 Page156 Page157 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More
