Week 5 Blog Post: Production

Since I got the decoder circuit working last week, my main efforts this week have gone towards finalizing the design and getting circuit boards manufactured. So far I have been testing all of the circuits on solderless breadboards, which are amazing for prototyping and allow me to find problems and fix them quickly, circuits on breadboards are a bad final product due to their flimsy connections, size and messiness. This is precisely the reason printed circuit boards (PCBs) exist, and why I am designing one for the decoder circuit part of my project.

Screenshot of the EAGLE Editor I am using to make the blueprints for the PCB

As for the solenoid control and volume control circuit, I am still waiting for parts to allow me to test the design I have in mind, and if everything goes well, I can start on a circuit board design for that part next week.