Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?

16 points by zkirill 1 year ago | 19 comments

Did anyone have a good experience and can vouch for their service provider?

I need help with taking a single-board computer (an existing open-source hardware project), converting from Eagle, removing unneeded components, and exporting KiCad/BOM that are ready to send to Eurocircuits/PCBWay/JLCPCB. Of course, the modified design would also be published under an open-source hardware license.

EDIT: Just saw that PCBWay offers design services. [1]

[1] https://www.pcbway.com/design-services.html

Scene_Cast2 1 year ago |

Out of curiosity, which SBC? Helios4 / Helios64 by any chance?

One gotcha could be that if some of the specified components aren't available (or, worse yet, EOL'd with no pin-compatible replacement), that could would necessitate more PCB work.

This is coming from someone who is annoyed at ESD441 being out of stock at LCSC and Digikey.

zkirill 1 year ago | |

The SBC is called Banana Pi M1+. Thank you for introducing me to Helios (Kobol). Their blog and wiki were a very useful and humbling read.

After I posted my question I learned that BPi didn't open source their PCB layout. It looks like I will need even more help than I originally planned.

IndrekR 1 year ago |

HN seems to be a really funny place for this question. You do not see many “Can anybody recommend a JS developer?” style questions here and monthly “Who is hiring” thread seems more appropriate for this.

Disclaimer: am professionally a PCB designer/EE for last 22 years.

Kadin 1 year ago | |

It doesn't seem that weird precisely because so many people here are in software, rather than hardware. My suspicion is that the median HN reader probably knows a few JS developers, but PCB designers are few and far between in software shops.

Some of the responses surprised me -- I would never have thought about using Fiverr, for instance. I've gone there for graphic design, HTML/CSS/JS, and even some full-stack work, but it never occurred to me to hire a PCB eng there. No reason, just not something I'd looked for before.

rajnathani 1 year ago | |

Yeah. @OP Maybe EEVBlog's forum or a relevant PCB design subreddit would have better hope at finding a PCB designer in this way? Otherwise, UpWork works really well, as I've hired 2-3 PCB designers off of UpWork so far.

mikesabbagh 1 year ago |

JLCPCB.

I got my pcb sample, 5 pcbs + assembly (had to make sure all components are in their library) How many days ? including shipping 6 days from order to delivery!!! cost ~250$ They are unbeatable!!

gwbennett 1 year ago |

I've used Embedded Engineering Solutions, www.eesaz.com, for several projects here in AZ. They've done quality work at a fair price.

polalavik 1 year ago |

If the modified will be open-source would you be willing to outline goals of the project on github or gitlab? I'd be happy to take a look. been a while since I've done PCB work I mostly do asic/fpga design now, but depending on the scope I could possibly help.

zkirill 1 year ago | |

Sure! I found your email through your profile and will send you a message.

Just wondering if git is used to collaborate on hardware design? I've only seen projects share completed KiCad/PDF/BOM.

rasz 1 year ago |

If its anything vintage I might be interested. "references" https://github.com/raszpl/FIC-486-GAC-2-Cache-Module

zkirill 1 year ago | |

Not vintage but I loved reading your reference project. Sent you an email just in case.

thesh4d0w 1 year ago |

I've had decent luck with random people on Fiverr, of all things...

SOLAR_FIELDS 1 year ago | |

My ex business partner did the hardware design for our prototype and scored a super helpful brilliant guy out of Nigeria on Fiverr that walked him through everything he needed. So I can honestly recommend this route.

The use case we had was actually pretty similar to OP, we had some basic design in EasyEDA and were looking to bring it to the next level for proper prototyping.

The business failed for several other reasons, but lack of solid hardware design (admittedly, ours was a pretty simple design) was not one of them.

Fiverr honestly goes pretty hard if you are running lean. I saved about an order of magnitude on trademark fees by having someone on Fiverr who had done them many times before walk me through the process instead of paying a lawyer to do it. I’ve also used it in the past to get acceptable (not great, but good enough to put on contractual letterhead) logo designs for extremely reasonable pricing

jtolly710 1 year ago |

Hey, if it helps, We had a need for a consumer-focused product based on the ESP32 that I work with every day, and can vouch for DeepSeaDev. Were able to do the work and provide the IP.

bmitc 1 year ago |

JLCPCB also offers some services. Also, it's fairly easy to learn Easy EDA, especially if you leave the PCB layout to JLCPCB.

zkirill 1 year ago | |

I just learned about Easy EDA! The drag and drop of parts is insanely cool. Just wondering if you can mix KiCad with Easy EDA in one workflow? Or, when would one choose KiCad over Easy EDA and vice versa?

elcritch 1 year ago |

Seeed Studio also does custom CM4 designs. They might be an option.

yanko 1 year ago |

I have one that analyze the PCB design and prepare the line to onboard the elements.

brudgers 1 year ago |

Finding professionals is a reason to use LinkedIn. Good luck.