Quote Originally Posted by skimask View Post
Agree with mister_e 99%. Simulators might be a good 1st step, but that's it, an initial 1st step to see if an idea might even be remotely feasible. Relying on a simulator in my mind is false economy. 2nd step straight to the prototyping stage, not straight to a production PCB.
I have about 10 years of expertise with electronics and computers. There's a heck of a lot that I know and an equal amount that I don't. Over the years I have had a dozen projects published in the Silicon Chip magazine, and I've also been employed as an electronics technician in some previous job roles.

Often the people that I’ve worked around have reminded me that a lot of professional design engineers take their initial schematic and go straight to PCB. In my first technical role with a company called BEAR Solutions, I once threw my hands in the air offering to prototype some of their designs. In my spare time even. I figured I'd learn a thing or two. The response was very clear. We go straight to PCB; if the design needs corrections we simply modify the layout and request another 1 off board from our suppliers.

Economically this can work well, but only if you plan on ordering a specific quantity after the design has been perfected. At worst you'll be up for the tooling fee. Some manufactures may write this amount off or bury it somewhere into the actual total cost. Of course though, if your production runs small, or you have extreme doubts with the integrity / workability of your design, then this may not be a feasible approach. There’s a big difference between R&D and setting out to produce a product that uses known to be good and working technology.

All told, if you know exactly what you're doing then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to go straight to PCB. (*Sure wish I did)

Best Regards,

Trent Jackson