

How to turn an Arduino-based proof of concept into a final prototype - zwtaylor
http://digitaljunky.io/how-to-turn-an-arduino-based-proof-of-concept-into-a-final-prototype/

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atmosx
Are there any books for non-engineers, that go from basic concepts up to PCB
design?

UPDATE: Not sure if it's going up to PCB design but apparently this one[1]
seems to be the most praised on Amazon UK.

[1]
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071771336?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE)

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digitaljunky
I learned a lot about the basics with "Getting started in Electronics" by
Forrest M. Mims III, it's very (very) accessible and I find the drawings very
amusing.

Or else you have the Bible of the trade, or "The Art of Electronics" by Paul
Horowitz and Winfield Hill that just came out for a third edition. It's an
incredibly comprehensive guide but you'd better have some free time ahead if
you want to read through it all :)

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bliti
Agree with you. The Forrest Mims books are concise and written in a very
simple manner without dumbing things down. His collection of the basics which
is about four small volumes, will cost you about $50 in total. Money very well
spent.

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arbuge
Next question is how to go from final prototype into production... that can be
pretty hard in practice.

Indeed, calling a prototype "final" before looking at the manufacturing side
of things might not be wise.

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Animats
Right. This is something that looks like the final product, but isn't ready
for manufacture.

* If you run a 9V battery into a linear regulator to get 5V, there goes 55% of your energy and battery life. Consider 4 AAA cells. Work on reducing standby power consumption. When idle, put the CPU to sleep until IR is sensed. (An ATmega can do this.) Things which burn battery power when idle fail as consumer products.

* "I could (and probably should) use an ATtiny for such an application but I only had some ATMega328 in my parts bin."

* Prototype plastic things with 3D printing. Manufacture them by injection moulding. The little injection moulder at a TechShop could bang out about one box a minute. Any commercial shop can turn out thousands in a day. Making the mould is either work or expense, but you come out way ahead after a few hundred parts.

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bsder
> Making the mould is either work or expense, but you come out way ahead after
> a few hundred parts.

Where are you getting your mould? Everywhere I deal with wants $5K+ USD NRE.

You can 3D print a lot of stuff for $5K USD.

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Animats
Get a TechShop membership, take the classes in injection moulding, CNC I, CNC
II, and CNC mill. You get free access to Autodesk Moldflow, an injection
moulding simulator. Learn to use it. Design and mill your mold. Make some
parts using TechShop's injection molding machine. Make a new mold if you're
not getting what you want.

Completely straight sides make injection moulding harder. The tooling for
straight sides has to come apart to release the finished part. But a shape
that's smaller at the bottom can be made in a far simpler mould. This is why
cheap items such as plastic glasses are tapered so much. Look at plastic parts
around you, and notice that most of them are shaped to come easily out of a
simple mould.

Consider making the outer shell by vacuum-forming. That's cheap and easy, and
the tooling can be made of wood. TechShop has that capability, too. It works
better for shapes that aren't as sharp-cornered as a cube, so consider
modifying the shape to have rounded corners.

Both of these processes will produce a much smoother finish and a stronger
part than 3D printing.

Welcome to manufacturing.

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sjtrny
Tip: to help make even smaller proof of concepts use a Teensy [1] instead of
an Arduino.

[1] [https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/)

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Mahn
Great article, lots of resources in there for someone getting started and your
writing style is great too. Please do a follow up if you figure out the
production part :)

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digitaljunky
hey thanks. I sure will add additional details along the road and probably
write something else about manufacturing. Since it appears that it can be a
very complicated (and costly) adventure, I contacted a local start-up
incubator hoping to benefit form their expertise.

