Printed Circuit Board Design Courses

Avatarr

I m looking for a good PCB design course part time,any idea's?

DublinDilbert

What's your back ground?

Designing a pcb requires lots of different skills, electronic, mechanical, knowledge of components, emc, manufacturing ect...

I've never seen any pcb design courses here, it's mostly 'on the job' type training. There is probably some companies that come over from the uk a few times per year, I'll check the office to see if ive got any names....

Avatarr

DublinDilbert wrote: »

What's your back ground?

Designing a pcb requires lots of different skills, electronic, mechanical, knowledge of components, emc, manufacturing ect...

I've never seen any pcb design courses here, it's mostly 'on the job' type training. There is probably some companies that come over from the uk a few times per year, I'll check the office to see if ive got any names....

I presently work with an SMT company and I have a good deal of IPC experience. I work with PCB fabricators and my motivation is driven to gain a better understanding of design principals underpinning board layout.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

DublinDilbert

Ahh very good, you have a very good grounding in manufacturing issues, that's very important. You'll also know about soldering processes, wave, reflow ect...

I'm guessing you want to get up to speed on schematic capture and pcb layout. Then generate some gerber files ect...

Do you have any small projects to do? There's a free version of eagle which you can play around with, would be good to try some small projects.

The likes of design for emc comes with time/experience, so don't stress at the start. Just remember the highest speed circuitry generally goes closest to the psu ;-)

If you've any questions just ask away...

DAC

Avatarr wrote: »

I presently work with an SMT company and I have a good deal of IPC experience. I work with PCB fabricators and my motivation is driven to gain a better understanding of design principals underpinning board layout.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Hi,
You have a pratical understanding of electronic manuf. which is a good starting point – knowledge of PCB FAB electronic design, quality, and test will eventually be gathered/required.
In general there are two types of design – Analog and Digital both have different requirements when laying out a PCB.
PCB design is a melting pot where input constraints – Electrical / Mechanical / Thermal - must be balanced to achieve a functioning product,that can be manufactured, the output is a well documented (both PCB Fab & PCB Assy ) package.
You will need to develop/already have very strong attention to detail, patience is also a good attribute, it can be a long learning curve to become really proficient (no different to a lot of skills)
IPC run a design certification program –http://dc.ipc.org/html/default.htm it’s a good starting point to get some of the basics for someone starting out in PCB Design

Avatarr

Thanks, I will look at link, it sounds like a good starting point.

DAC

DublinDilbert mentioned Eagle s'ware - it has a user discussion forum that can help a beginner understand some of the functions of the software.
On the PCB Designers forum on LinkedIn you can see some discussions on PCB design issues.
There are lots of other forums out there as well.
If you do want to see some of the steps involved in layout then try this -
Pick a simple circuit from any hobby website i.e http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm
To begin you'll need a schematic and BOM (Bill of Materials with comp ref's (names) & values these are used to create schematic symbol footprints and component library footprints
you need to duplicate the schematic in the schematic capture package within the PCB design package
next assign a PCB footprint to each schematic symbol
Export the circuit to the PCB layout editor & begin placing parts and turn the "ratsnest" (interconnects) into copper tracks!

Irish_Elect_Eng

Ok, my 2c.

I used PCB design to make the jump from Technician to Design Engineer many moons ago. Becoming a specialist with a particular tool or discipline within a general career area is a good way to move your career forward.

You are familiar with the IPC PCBA standards, 610, 6012 etc. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the IPC Design Track standards also.

http://www.ipc.org/4.0_Knowledge/4.1_Standards/SpecTree.pdf

A good basic course is:

http://www.eda.co.uk/training_pcb_foundation.htm

I would recommend training on Altium Designer (formerly PADS Power PCB) as it is the most common tool mid-range used in Ireland in Industry and it is a concept to manufacture tool. IT has its own schematic capture tool, but is often paired with OrCad. Others may advise differnt tools,perhaps you should investigate which tool your company used as you may be able to borrow a license for training purposes.

I would highly recommend the IPC Certified Interconnect Designer (CID) certification as a way to formalize your training and to present your new skill to a future employer.

http://www.eda.co.uk/training_ipc_designer_cert.htm

I have used this trainer Alan Johnson and he is one of the good guys.

Avatarr

Thanks for information, there is some great advise and links in the thread, I will definitely follow up on these, thanks again, this has really helped frame up a path forward, cheers.:)

Irish_Elect_Eng

Good Luck,

If you need any advice or info PM me.

Avatarr

Irish_Elect_Eng wrote: »

Good Luck,

If you need any advice or info PM me.

Thanks again

keithcooper1

Hello

I am on a new quest to becoming a pcb design engineer, and i was wondering how you got on with your enquiry, and if you were successful or not? Did you find a good course? and are you now a practising design engineer?

Have you any tips based on your experience?

Regards

longhalloween

Here's a good book:

http://books.google.ie/books/about/Complete_PCB_Design_Using_OrCad_Capture.html?id=z-tRRE9O8xMC&redir_esc=y

And this guy's an expert on PCB design. Some of his tips and tricks are really useful.

http://www.hottconsultants.com/