For something completely different :)
An idea would be to teach off a board -- a PC Board, not a white board.
Any tool does things in a different way then any other tool, but the one
common denominator is the finished product, the circuit board itself.
Maybe this is kind of radical, but I think the students first need to
learn basic electronics, so they know how a circuit functions and why
certain parts need to be near (or far) from other parts. It doesn't
need to be on an engineering level, just enough to understand crosstalk,
impedance, RLC and such. The care and feeding of engineers and their
schematics would be a logical part of this phase. Hands on might be
constructing the circuits on a schematic and running it thru simulation.
They next need to learn how a board is assembled, so they understand the
limitations of the process and the reasons behind assembly restrictions
and constraints. An introduction to the hassles the average assembly
worker goes through each day, things that help and things that drive
them crazy. Soldering processes, pitfalls, problems, and solutions.
Processes used to test the boards, and how the designer can aid this.
Hands on might be soldering parts on example boards using manual
pick/place, or could be tours or videos of assembly shops. The IPC
makes a number of these, don't they?
Then they need to understand the actual boards, how parts are connected,
the mechanics behind a PCB, how signals are connected (vias, etc), how
the boards are manufactured, the limitations of the boards (crosstalk
and such). Physical problems that can crop up such as bow/twist, and
what to do to prevent it. Again, IPC training materials could be used
here.
Now, basic design theory. Trace widths, spacing, impedance. Planes. All
the guts of a design that need to be done on ANY design tool.
Placement, routing, busses, length matching, IPC standards. Hands on
could be introducing one of the simple, cheep design tools that could be
taken home so the student can "play" with them on their own.
Finally, the students should have hands on, intensive training on a
higher level tool, preferably one that is used in their area. Ideally,
this phase could be repeated for additional tools, so the student could
get a broad exposure to more than one.
Just a thought.
--
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, Engineering Design Services
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512
Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587
http://www.tektronix.com http://www.pcb-designer.com
It's my opinion, not Tektronix'
-----Original Message-----
From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Brooks,Bill
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DC] Design Software to use as a teaching tool???
Well. There are advantages and disadvantages to using any tool... I
think
about the newbie who has no experience trying to learn the tool in order
to
learn the concepts... That is mostly what happens... we don't have
drafting
tables or bishop graphics tape and Mylar anymore, (except in the PCB
museum
and the glue on the back of the tape is more like gooey gum from age...
or
hardened varnish in some cases that won't stick to anything...) I kind
of
liked the fact that mechanical pencils and x-acto knives didn't need
batteries to work... (but I still used an electric eraser though...:))
Try to think of the complexity of teaching some of the tools that are
already out there to someone who doesn't know what a via is... I don't
think
it helps them much to attempt to learn a tool without the concepts...
But
what are we left with to use to teach them the concepts with? I suppose
you
could cover a lot of ground by lecturing about it using PowerPoint but
the
newbie needs to get their hands on something to draw with and manipulate
parts and hook them up to make it their own... They need to understand
the
parameters that affect component footprints, soldering, tolerances and
frankly a whole host of other things... If it takes a long time to teach
the
tool, they never get into much of the fundamentals in a semester...
mostly
they just learn the tool.
I think the tool needs to be simpler for teaching purposes, easy to use,
and
not fraught with bugs and restrictions like many cad programs seem to
require... it can really get in the way of teaching what the student
needs
to learn, 'How to design'.
If you had to pick up a new tool and produce 2 double sided surface
mount
boards with it in 2 weeks (a semester is about 96 hours class time of
which
half is lecture and half is lab). Is there any tool that would lend
itself
to doing that? A lot of the students have training in AutoCAD... would
you
use it?
Most of the tools I have seen have fairly long learning curves (although
the
demo that the sales guys gives you makes it look easy), in reality you
spend
months just developing libraries, and working around the restrictions of
the
software or fumbling with obscure commands and concepts and finding out
long
down the road after you have spent your money and time that the package
you
have needs to be upgraded or enhanced to do the simple task you want to
do... something that it won't do after you just spent hours trying to
make
it do it. I don't think that it's fair to the students to saddle them
with a
difficult tool when they haven't even learned the basics yet.
Is there anything 'easy to pick up' out there? Or maybe something
designed
as a teaching tool that could be purchased or downloaded by the
students?
Best regards,
Bill Brooks - KG6VVP
PCB Design Engineer, C.I.D.+, C.I.I.
Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510
Datron World Communications, Inc.
_______________________________________
San Diego Chapter of the IPC Designers Council
Communications Officer, Web Manager
http://dcchapters.ipc.org/SanDiego/
http://pcbwizards.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Mario Irigoyen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 11:45 AM
To: '(Designers Council Forum)'; 'Brooks,Bill'
Subject: RE: [DC] Design Software to use as a teaching tool???
Hi Bill, (and everyone else)
I think your responses to this question will be as varied and probably
mirror the usage of the many tools out there. I'm sure we all have our
favorites.
I would teach fundies first then move on to software since the tools are
supposed to assist a designer not be a designer.
I agree with Pete, a drafting table and with Kevin, Bishop Graphics
tape.
Best regards,
Mario Irigoyen
630-759-5505
630-803-1378 Cell
[log in to unmask]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using
LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text
in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET
DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases
> E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site
http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100
ext.2815
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil.
To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
