I’m a software engineer who has worked in the hardware world for a year. Mainly programming controllers/building integrations to systems etc…
I’ve seen how knowing hardware design can make some projects a lot simpler/cooler/compact. That made me look at different PCB design programs and tutorials online. I found the Hackaday article about Getting to Blinky.
I completed that, but it does take a while for OSHPark to deliver to Europe, so I might need to find a European PCB producer that has good pricing. If anyone has recommendations, I’m all ears.
GTB
I’ve got the board. I haven’t ordered the parts yet, but they are delivered in a day usually. I do have the cart filled already.
Not too worried about the soldering bit. My hand-soldering is ok and i’m thinking of trying to use solder paste and a SMD rework station for this. Should be a perfect little test.
My first own project is a LED headlamp hook-up board for a motorcycle. Something that will allow me to dim the lights to use as DRL when needed and shut them down if an indicator turns on. But it’ll take a while before I’m ready to start with that. For now, i’ll solder up GTB and start with the CE header.
Welcome to the forums! To find a PCB house with faster shipping to your area you may like this site: https://pcbshopper.com/. It’ll tell you at least an estimate of how fast you’ll receive your order. There’s also this thread which has a number of reviews you might find useful.
Decided to go ahead and solder the first one by hand. Almost happy with the result, the capacitor didn’t come out as well as i’d like but it’s ok, especially considering the fact it was my first SMD soldering.
at least you have not given up and have made the first step to see what is going on The next step would be to ask the question “Why is it switching too quickly?”. Perhaps post your circuit. My understanding of the 555 timer is that the frequency is driven by the RC values. The circuit might help to verify what values you have used.
From my perspective of Contextual Electronics is that a Bodge on a working board is just proof that something was learned. …and yes, I have had to bodge a few boards
The next step would be to ask the question “Why is it switching too quickly?”. Perhaps post your circuit. My understanding of the 555 timer is that the frequency is driven by the RC values. The circuit might help to verify what values you have used.
