I would say that knowing how to design boards makes me MORE willing to buy other people's boards. Coming from a more mechanical background, I don't look forward to the tedium of reviewing and modifying all the footprints of "standard" sized SMD parts.
I like making music effects for friends, and branching out to things related to motor control, LEDs, sensors, etc. I prefer to have them pick and placed for me. Since an injury a few years ago, I battle vertigo when doing extended fine detail work.
I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.
Your comment made me realize that I only enjoy building things when they have a component of learning, or when it's something I haven't done before. I have a similar problem where my vision goes blurry at the center if I focus near for long, but I've found that magnifying glasses help with that because they change the focal length.
> I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.
Thanks for the tip and the compliment! My latest design is a flight controller I made for a remote controlled paper airplane, it's nothing fancy but has some good caveat solutions that might be worth posting.
I'll look into Tindie and possibly upload there, thanks again!
> I only enjoy building things when they have a component of learning, or when it's something I haven't done before
Yes, yes, yes and yes.
This comment came at the perfect time since it's something I've been thinking about all morning and it even relates to PCB's :-)
I think I'm the same way. I have bare boards here (PCB designed and came back from fab), a stencil, paste and trays of parts. AND a customer and a damn healthy profit margin.
So why haven't I assembled, tested and shipped the boards I should have almost a week ago? Well, that's the question and I think your answer crystallized it perfectly for me. The fun part of solving the problem and coming up with a solution is done. Actually building and testing these things is BORING and I have to force myself to do it even though I know shipping just two boards will cover this month's car payment.
I was thrilled and excited to ship the first ones: precision analog electronics, a four-quadrant multiplying DAC and a domain I enjoy working in (machine control). But now that we're up to Revision 4, I am so effing bored with it.
Ah, that's too bad about the dizziness... We're getting old, alas!
The controller works fine, but I still need to do some work on the aerodynamics of the body to make it fly well. I'll post the controller so you can try your own aircraft designs, though.
I would say that knowing how to design boards makes me MORE willing to buy other people's boards. Coming from a more mechanical background, I don't look forward to the tedium of reviewing and modifying all the footprints of "standard" sized SMD parts.
I like making music effects for friends, and branching out to things related to motor control, LEDs, sensors, etc. I prefer to have them pick and placed for me. Since an injury a few years ago, I battle vertigo when doing extended fine detail work.
I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.