Hey guys,
I'm prototyping something right now, but when I'm done I'd like to have everything on one board. That is, I'd want a pretty basic board that uses the 4 serial ports, don't really need anything else. Would need an RS232 level converter on one and a UART 3.3v TTL converter on another. USB adapter as well.
How hard is it to make a custom board like this? Cost? I'd pay to have someone design it for me...
Thanks!
Dan
Unless you were wanting a lot of them then it would cost you too much for it to be worth it. You would be better off just using a mega.
Board production is not cheap but you could get one produced for about the same as it would cost you to buy a mega and the extra parts, is it really worth it?
Mowcius
Yes, because I'd want quite a few of them and would want to package them up nicely. It's not about saving money, it's about making it look nice and professional.
You're saying a custom board would probably cost something like $70 USD? That would be fine with me.
If anyone's willing to do it, I'm still up for it. Let me know!
Thanks
No it should be less than that...
Well that's even better! My problem is that I have no idea how to go about designing a custom board and getting it built. If someone was willing to do the design for me, I'd be willing to pay a reasonable price. I'd imagine it would be fairly easy for someone who knows what they're doing.
Anyone?
Any chance you'd be willing to describe the intended use of this board? I ask because there's a fair chance someone can make a recommendation on a board or IC which might be better suited to your requirements than a customized Mega.
Sure. I'm doing data conversion between an engine computer and a logging device. I just need to poll one RS232 device, do some calculations, then pass data off to a TTL device. Nothing major.
I just want my TTL and RS232 converters on board, I want it to have my device name on it, and I want to get rid of the stuff I don't need. It would make things a lot cleaner and better for my application.
I'm more interested in getting something custom built.
Thanks
The boards are pretty simple to get done but the issue you might have is getting all of the components to go on it at a resonable price for a small order...
Mowcius
Thanks, but I'm looking for less things, not more. If you're still up for it and think you could design it, please let me know.
Thanks
Personaly im thinking about making it a kit. Hence, it could turn out to be a whole new product line, opensource of course. With educational schemes and components with Female pinheaders so you can connect to them.
Heck of an Idea. The Mega has quite the feature set and a 'mother board' that could fan out all the pins is a more useful and logical manner (serial ports, I2C, analog, etc) with more power and ground connections would make for a more useful platform.
Note sure I would be prepared to put out $80+ for one, but a blank PCB would be very attractive to me. 
Lefty
Well that's even better! My problem is that I have no idea how to go about designing a custom board and getting it built. If someone was willing to do the design for me, I'd be willing to pay a reasonable price. I'd imagine it would be fairly easy for someone who knows what they're doing.
If you just want to make PCB's and populate them yourself you can use a place like BatchPCB which is cheap but takes a while to get your boards back.
To actually create the files you need to send to a place like this so they can create the board for you you will need to use a program like Eagle PCB (there is a free version). There are several tutorial on SparkFun on how to use Eagle to create your PCB:
Getting started with Eagle PCB and schematic capture
The basics of laying out a PCB with Eagle
How to create a custom footprint and part in Eagle PCB
If you want a place that is a step above a place like BatchPCB you can look at Advanced Circuits or Screaming Circuits. With these places you can have them populate your boards as well.
I could help you design a board. In fact we are with a small group of 3, thinking about designing a Mega Arduino Motherboard. It will basicly be a square PCB with lots of build-in functionality such as Sound, Moter control, Input, Wireless* (optional, slots available) and are now thinking about adding a display port.
The board should be available from anything between $80 and $140. But you get a lot of stuff for that, plug and play.
You should also be aware of the ATNGW100. Its $89 from Mouser or digikey. Uses a AT32AP7000, 32MB SDRAM, 16 MB flash, two Ethernet ports, SD and MMC card reader, and connectors for USB and JTAG. Comes with linux pre-installed.
I'd sort of expect a "for commercial use" custom PCB design to cost upwards from $1000 to have someone do it for you (not including the actual boards) That sort of consulting tends to run $100/hour and up, and starting from an existing design like the Arduino MEGA doesn't make it take THAT much less time. 10 hours disappears really quickly when you have negotiations of requirements, schematic entry, PCB design, interfacing with a PCB vendor, and carrying the little bits around. You might reach some "deal" with someone (and be on less shaky moral grounds) if the design is made general purpose enough to appeal to the community, and released as open-source ("Arduino Mega Serial level translator shield" ?) Or you might get someone with a less developed skillset to do them for less money as a sort of training exercise, though that's not a particularly low-risk route.
And some of the PCB vendors do layout as well, which might let you combine charges, especially if you're going to be building enough boards that the design-time becomes more negotiable.
But in general, "industry standard consulting fees" are ... expensive.
I think I can help you, if you want to talk more about details and timings send me a PM with your contact details.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll try messing around with Eagle, but I doubt I'll have the proficiency to get it done right.
cerocca, you have PM.
Thanks!