How to turn an Arduino-based proof of concept into a final prototype(digitaljunky.io) |
How to turn an Arduino-based proof of concept into a final prototype(digitaljunky.io) |
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...
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 :)
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.
Indeed, calling a prototype "final" before looking at the manufacturing side of things might not be wise.
* If you run a 9V battery into a linear regulator to get 5V, there goes 55% of your energy and battery life. Consider 4 AAA cells. Work on reducing standby power consumption. When idle, put the CPU to sleep until IR is sensed. (An ATmega can do this.) Things which burn battery power when idle fail as consumer products.
* "I could (and probably should) use an ATtiny for such an application but I only had some ATMega328 in my parts bin."
* Prototype plastic things with 3D printing. Manufacture them by injection moulding. The little injection moulder at a TechShop could bang out about one box a minute. Any commercial shop can turn out thousands in a day. Making the mould is either work or expense, but you come out way ahead after a few hundred parts.
Where are you getting your mould? Everywhere I deal with wants $5K+ USD NRE.
You can 3D print a lot of stuff for $5K USD.
(shameless plug, my username @ gmail.com if you would like to discuss what services I can offer you)
Completely straight sides make injection moulding harder. The tooling for straight sides has to come apart to release the finished part. But a shape that's smaller at the bottom can be made in a far simpler mould. This is why cheap items such as plastic glasses are tapered so much. Look at plastic parts around you, and notice that most of them are shaped to come easily out of a simple mould.
Consider making the outer shell by vacuum-forming. That's cheap and easy, and the tooling can be made of wood. TechShop has that capability, too. It works better for shapes that aren't as sharp-cornered as a cube, so consider modifying the shape to have rounded corners.
Both of these processes will produce a much smoother finish and a stronger part than 3D printing.
Welcome to manufacturing.
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.
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.