EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: Fcolor04 on March 30, 2023, 02:55:10 pm
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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?
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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?
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... - 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.
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If you know someone playing with RC boats or cars, give them to those guys. PCBs are great for reinforcement plates, motor mounts etc.
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I make soldering and other sorts of jigs out of them. Also use as sacrificial soldering surface.
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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
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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.
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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 (https://www.pcbway.com/project/questionpublish)
eev forum is also good when it comes to circuit and PCB design reviews.
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Solder on useless or extra electronic parts, different on each board. Then make an electronic art montage from the boards. ;D
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They go into the box of stuff that will totally be useful one day.
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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.
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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.