Author Topic: What do you do with bad design pcb's?  (Read 1045 times)

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Offline Fcolor04Topic starter

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What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« on: March 30, 2023, 02:55:10 pm »
The question is right in the title, I recently ordered two revisions of my second board ever and Im currently waiting for third one, Im in the phase of learning by burning parts so I have 14 bad circuit pcb and I don't know what to do with them, do you keep them as a souvenirs, recycle or just throw them away?
Probably optimizing schematic
 

Offline tggzzz

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2023, 03:10:28 pm »
The question is right in the title, I recently ordered two revisions of my second board ever and Im currently waiting for third one, Im in the phase of learning by burning parts so I have 14 bad circuit pcb and I don't know what to do with them, do you keep them as a souvenirs, recycle or just throw them away?

Soldering practice?
Mechanical shims?
Heat deflectors when using a hot air gun?
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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Offline Buriedcode

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2023, 03:38:18 pm »
... - Drinks coasters
- keyrings
- glued together to make place mats, lamp shades or folder covers
- framed on the wall as a reminder of mistakes

I'm sure I've done more but those are just the ones I can see right now.
 

Offline Benta

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2023, 04:03:15 pm »
If you know someone playing with RC boats or cars, give them to those guys. PCBs are great for reinforcement plates, motor mounts etc.
 

Offline wraper

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2023, 04:06:42 pm »
I make soldering and other sorts of jigs out of them. Also use as sacrificial soldering surface.
 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2023, 05:25:42 pm »
if they can be easily patched to the latest variant,  keep them


if the design as changed a lot / too much,   toss them  to do anything with them as previous written messages
 

Offline Siwastaja

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2023, 05:55:24 pm »
Keep them. Fiberglass is excellent mechanical material for many tasks you find later.

I just made a production (hundreds to thousands; not millions) test jig where a finished PCB will be slid in a slot, and some pogo pins / etc. connect to test pins. Made in 30 minutes by gluing (cyanoacrylate) random old bare PCBs together. They are all of the same thickness (with good enough tolerance), and have good straight sides and a lot of 90 degree corners available.
 

Offline barshatriplee

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2023, 09:27:35 pm »
If they are not functional just throw them away. I had to do the same several times at work when making a PCB of a voice-controlled robot. I think it is better to ask for reviews before sending a PCB for printing. This is a good place for that:

https://www.pcbway.com/project/questionpublish

eev forum is also good when it comes to circuit and PCB design reviews.
 

Offline xrunner

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2023, 10:31:05 pm »
Solder on useless or extra electronic parts, different on each board. Then make an electronic art montage from the boards.  ;D
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 

Offline aduinstat

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2023, 12:37:35 am »
They go into the box of stuff that will totally be useful one day.
 
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Offline Infraviolet

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2023, 08:11:32 pm »
The related question, ofcourse, is what to do with spare PCBs that do work, but for which you only ever needed one except the fab had a minimum order quantity of 5.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: What do you do with bad design pcb's?
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2023, 08:39:35 pm »
The related question, ofcourse, is what to do with spare PCBs that do work, but for which you only ever needed one except the fab had a minimum order quantity of 5.

I put them in a ziplock bag along with any parts associated with the project and file it away in one of the project boxes on my shelf. Or in a few cases I gave them away to members here for the cost of postage.
 


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