VeeCAD - Best Bang for Buck in the electronics world?

[FivePoint0]

I'm not a hobbbyist (but do some things outside of work), and day to day use software and equipment costing, well a lot.

Now and again I make the odd stripboard and some years back came across VeeCAD, sure it takes a little while to make a schematic (TinyCAD) and then create the board, but in a stroke my stripboards shrank by half in size.  To me the most satisfying thing was doing "proper" design on stripboard - really compact - and error free - designs became possible.

http://www.veecad.com/

It cost me $26.26 and is without a doubt given me more fun per $ than any other purchase in my career.

I am not related to VeeCAD in any way, but when people get things right (e.g. good support, are you listening Altium?) it deserves to be mentioned!

I often use VeeCAD to show work experience people etc how a proper design flow works.

Any thoughts / other users on here?

[free_electron]

Seriously ? who desings on stripboard ( apart for one off hobby projects ? )

that is not a 'design workflow' and a bad example for a real workflow.

[nctnico]

Well... sometimes I build prototypes or small one-off circuits on stripboard. If you need something quick and have some thru-hole components lying around it is a good solution. A package to help with a layout (planning) can be very useful.

[liquibyte]

DIYLC
Fritzing
I've used both but prefer to do a 0.1 inch grid in eagle, show grid on export, and just print that out.

[timb]

Seriously ? who desings on stripboard ( apart for one off hobby projects ? )

that is not a 'design workflow' and a bad example for a real workflow.

Actually, it is design workflow. It looks like you use the schematic editor from your normal EDA package (Altium, Eagle, DipTrace, KiCad, etc.) then export the NetList and Symbols, which this program picks up so you can design your strip board layout. Any changes can be reimported into your EDA package if desired. Then you can make a real PCB once you're done prototyping.

Personally, I like strip board. They've even got SMD boards that handle various pin pitches. (Though with an Exacto knife you can do SMD on normal strip board.) Next to super glue and copper clad board (Jim Williams style), strip board is my next most useful prototyping tool.

Not everyone is a 25 year veteran with money to burn for overnight quick turns you know. Sometimes for a couple of boards it's easier and cheaper to just hand build them, especially if you can't wait a month for real PCBs.

So yeah, this looks cool. Thanks for the heads up, OP! I'll give it a try. :}


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[FivePoint0]

Seriously ? who desings on stripboard ( apart for one off hobby projects ? )

It doesn't really matter who, but just that you can.  The key word is design - you place, you move, you optimise - the end result is not what you would achieve if you made a stripboard with a design circuit direct from your memory.

that is not a 'design workflow' and a bad example for a real workflow.

It is a workflow - you create libraries, place parts on schematics, then create netlists and import that into your layout design.  I'm curious - is your workflow different from this?  Please describe it . . .

[george graves]

Stripboard is like any tool.  It has lots of uses - you just need to know when it's the right tool to use.  To infer it's useless, well, you're missing a tool from your collection.

[free_electron]

Sometimes i use those boards that have one island per pad. But that is not real stripboard.

Stripboard always felt annoying to me. You have to cut traces , or need that special cutter tool.
And that stuff has become very expensive. Last time i looked i could have multi layer boards made in china for the cost of a single piece of 10x10cm of that stuff. I'd rather do that.

But making a dedicated CAD program for stripboard ?  Whatever floats your boat i guess.

[IconicPCB]

And that's how the argument started...in my opinion... but hey.. what ever sinks your fleet.

[Docholiday]

What have I learned on forum thus far?

Talking about electronics is like talking about religion and politics at times! 

[george graves]

Talking about electronics is like talking about religion and politics at times! 

I've seen more gentlemanly conservations between an atheist and a Christian than I've seen on here.

[Docholiday]

Now that is so true and funny!    I must make a note to myself stay away from electrons floating free not properly connected.

[zappedy]

I want to bump for VeeCAD awesomeness, the guy who makes it deserves some recognition. It is really great, and it is easily the best stripboard program. If you are backwards and still using mostly thru-hole and doing small one-offs, stripboard and TinyCAD+VeeCAD is much faster than making a real PCB, and almost as good. Protip: use a drill bit to break strips. Protip 2: print paper overlays with component references. Protip 3: yes you can use it to do complex solderless breadboards layouts too.

Full disclosure: I'm a paying user of VeeCAD since forever.

[Kilrah]

Stripboard always felt annoying to me. You have to cut traces , or need that special cutter tool.

A standard 3mm drill bit does the job perfectly.

[george graves]

Or a rotary tool with a smaller sized cutting wheel (the big ones are too big - so use wheels that I've saved and are 1/2 used up)

[CM800]

I haven't touched stripboard in years.

I've found my new love is matrix board, or even better, 'Perf+'

http://hackaday.com/2016/06/16/evaluating-the-unusual-and-innovative-perf-protoboard/

Seriously. I love this board. It's awesome.