Streamlined & simple prototyping to custom PCB

Fritzing is PCB design software (EDA) in the spirit of Arduino and Processing. It’s open source, cross-platform, streamlined, and simple to use. It doesn’t do simulations, but you can lay out your circuit in a GUI that looks like a prototyping board, then move to circuit layout, and finally PCB design. Check out the video above to get an idea of the workflow of Fritzing.

PCB manufacturing is something that I haven’t covered in Labrigger before. Partially because I didn’t think there were good free software tools to use. I’ve used proprietary stuff in the past (Tanner EDA, due to my background in MEMS), and the free (as in beer, not speech) version of EAGLE is popular. But most of the GNU-licensed PCB design software was not quite ready for primetime in my opinion. Fritzing is the first thing I’ve seen that is really well done and has the potential for wide adoption.

Anyways, now that Fritzing is here, it’s worth mentioning how affordable it is to have a custom board house make your custom PCB. It’s so cheap, I really don’t recommend making PCBs at home or in the lab, although there are plenty of ways to do so. This isn’t anything new, cheap custom PCBs have been available for decades, but not a lot of people who make their own gadgets in biomedical research know how easy it is.

Fritzing has their own fabrication, named Fritzing Fab. They’re based in Germany. But Fritzing will output files that you can send to other board houses. A Google search for “custom PCB” will return a hot mess of hits. I recommend you look for one in your geographical area. If you’re in the US, this list is a good start. I’ve used Advanced Circuits before, but any of these firms are probably solid.

Should I make a PCB?

If you’ve got more than 20 interconnects to do, then it’s probably worth making a PCB. However, if you’re really unsure of your design and might need to make several changes, then maybe the threshold should be closer to 30 interconnects. Because although PCBs can be minimally modified (cutting traces, making jumpers), they’re harder to change.

Turn around time is another consideration. Custom PCB houses are built for short turn around, but they’re still 1-5 days, typically. So if you need it right now, you’re better off wiring it yourself. Especially if there is a low number of interconnects.

BTW, Fritzing is selling some nice Arduino kits as well (link).

More materials…
A video where Fritzing is used for a slightly larger circuit design
Labrigger posts on Arduino