By: Alex Danovich,President San Francisco Circuits
We live in an exciting time where we see a resurgence in electronics as a hobby. Mass production has wiped out a generation or two of kids learning to build radios from scratch with their mom or dad. In the good old days, not sure when, you had companies like Heathkit walk you through building a full size color TV at home, for example. âYes, I made that!â youâd proudly exclaim to yourself after hours of work.
Whatâs causing this hobbyist resurgence?
- Television shows such as How itâs Made, Mythbusters and other programming on TLC.
- Websites such as instructables.com, hackaday.com, and specialized hobbyist blogs.
- Interest in RC cars, robotics, gaming, computers etc.
- Advent of Arduino boards, modules and free software.
- Open source software/hardware.
- The whole maker movement in general.
So what does this have to do with making circuit boards?
Well, itâs now easy and fairly cheap to make a nice circuit board for your project without a lot of fuss. So you want to get the kids away from the TV and build a fun, blinking LED project for your kids? Gone are the days of tedious hand wiring, empty coffee cups, smoking components and unprintable words; theyâre now replaced with easy online applications.
In times past, I would sketch out a circuit on a raw copper board using a Sharpie pen. Then I dipped it in a bath of some nice toxic Ferric Chloride from Radio Shack and waited and waited. After a long while, you removed the board and then hand drilled the work of art. To prevent corrosion, you rubbed some silver powder on it. Finally, stuff the board and there it is. Your mom (or wife) is now furious over the stains, mess and the stink you just created. But there it is. You let out a great sigh of personal satisfaction.
Fast forward to post-dinosaur times.
For more detail: Circuit Board Design for Beginners
