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19 March 2004

Wanderings

Ralph J. Coppola
r_j_coppola@hotmail.com

SAS Disclaimer

Feature

This week, we will be featuring Printed Circuit Board (PCB) fabrication. Besides producing and prototyping the original design, the two hardest steps in making a PCB are converting the schematic to artwork and then transferring the artwork to the bare copper clad board. Fortunately, with the advent of the PC these tasks were greatly simplified.

CadSoft's EAGLE Software is an easy to use, powerful and affordable schematic capture and PCB design package. Several versions of the EAGLE package are available ---- “freeware”, “Non-Profit” and “Professional”.

CircuitMaker 2000 is a top of the line professional schematic capture and PCB design suite. They offer a free downloadable evaluation version as well as a free student edition.

ExpressPCB , also has a free PCB CAD software program. Additionally, they offer a service where they will take your PCB artwork and produce 3 professional quality PCB's for $51US. They also have a page of general tips for PCB production.

Pete's Homebrew Homepage contains a very simple method of using the MS Paint utility to layout your PCB artwork. ---- I really like this one!!! Included are:

How To Make PCB's using glossy paper and a laser printer.

The Easy PC Boards method uses an Avery label backing sheet and a laser printer.

Think & Tinker provides an e-book printed circuit prototyping featuring their Press-n-Peel PCB Transfer Film .

Pulsar's Toner Transfer System is another method of using special purpose films.

Dan Feeback's Site offers some general tips for making PCB`s.

You will have to have some soldering skills to populate your new PCB with components.

In addition to the above resources, I have a few hints that I have collect over the years of home brewing PCB`s.

  • Practice --- Practice --- Practice --- Practice!
  • You do not need exotics to clean the PCB before or after etching. A SOS soap pad works fine.
  • You can easily edit the resist pattern with a permanent marker and a razor knife.
  • Do not use an inkjet printer. The ink is not waterproof

Once your PCB is built you may want to stick it in a nice looking box. The following links will help you in customizing a meter face plates and panel layouts.

This reprint of the Oct'02 QST article, Custom Panel Meter Faces , highlights Jim Tonne's program for producing custom meter faces.

Frank Kamp suggests that you could scan the original meter face then edit the image with a drawing program.

John McDonough has written two freeware programs, DIAL for constructing meter dials and PANEL for equipment panels.

Wanderings

In the 10 Jun`96 issue of The Scientist magazine, Bruce V. Bigelow wrote an interesting article entitled ---- Amateur Scientists making Significant Discoveries While Fighting To Receive Recognition And Respect

Robotbooks.com has a huge selection of robotics books, robot toys, movies, educational toys, magazines, motors, and robot kits.

Even though Radio-Sky Publishing caters mainly to amateur radio astronomers, the site also contains resources that could be adapted by other amateur scientists. Take for example their Radio-SkyPipe . This is a freeware strip chart program for your PC that uses a 16 bit sound card or ADC.

The WebEE.com web site contains a vast collection of information such as a schematic library and a selection of tutorials. Of special interest may be their downloadable signal processing programs.

Have you ever wondered what “that” scientific term meant? The Scientific Computing Co . has links to several online glossaries of scientific terms.

Alex Ryer has a very useful e-book ---- Light Measurement Handbook .

Under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, William H. Heidcamp produced an online text ---- Cell Biology Laboratory Manual .

The eMachineShop is the new way to get the custom parts you need for your next project.

Iguana Labs provides a selection of electronic kits for students, educators, hobbyists, and engineers. They also have a wide selection of on-line tutorials.

Bathymetry, Topography, and Relief ---- Data & imagery, from NOAA, describing the shape of Earth's land surface & seafloor

The Amateur Telescope Makers site (ATM) site is a collection of resources for the amateur astronomer.

Peter Abrahams has compiled a comprehensive collection of links chronicling the history of telescopes and binoculars.

Is Brian Manning's Grating Ruling Engine the ultimate in DIY precision? This article first appeared in the Apr `75 Amateur Scientist column. If not, what is? Let's hear your opinions in Backscatter .

The http://www.vlf.it/ is an extensive collection of links related to ULF, ELF and VLF radio waves.

Integrated Publishing is an e-library containing online reprints of a wide selection of U.S. military subjects. Also check their archive .

Dan Gookin's Unofficial C for Dummies web site is an online companion for his books, C for Dummies , Volumes I and II.

The NASA Telerobotics Program's Cool Robot of the Week is a few years out of date but still has a lot of robot links.

The Butterfly Conservancy hosts a collection of links for butterfly lovers.

Nigel Goodwin's site contains free programming software for various chips in the PIC series of micro-controllers.

Tony Baker shares his theories and knowledge of archaeology on his web site --- Paleoindian & Other Archaeological Stuff .

McAllister Technical Services has a Short History of Vacuum Terminology and Technology , as well some Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STM) info.

The Kids Room

With all the stuff that's posted on the Web, how does one separate the good from the junk?

Lonely? Grand Illusions has a little dragon pet for you to down load.

The purpose of the YogiCub project is to design and implement LEGO mechanical subsystems like those found on a NASA Rover.

The University of Florida's Radio Observatory Online Project brings the radio emissions (including sounds) of Jupiter and the Sun to students, teachers, and the general public.

The Radio JOVE Project allows students and amateur scientists to observe and analyze natural radio emissions of Jupiter and the Sun.

Science Junction is a cyber community for teachers, students and researchers of science.

QuarkNet enables high school students and teachers to participate in high-energy physics experiments operating at CERN and other research centres.

The Particle Adventure opens the field of force and matter.

On The Lighter Side

Just in time for Easter ---- Marshmallow Peeps presents an in-depth scientific study of a favourite Easter treat. Be sure to have a look at their Literature Review link.

From The Far Side

On 12 February 2004 The Discovery Channel's program Beyond Invention , ran a piece titled “New Energy”. This show featured Tim Ventura and his lifters, John Hutchison and the Hutchison Effect and Joe Newman and his free energy claims.

Too bad SAS could not get this kind of coverage. 8-(