N6GN Open Source Hardware Pages

This is a page of links to some designs that can be home-constructed as simple, relatively low-cost kits. For many of these no soldering is required and only simple final assembly of a printed circuit board into an enclosure using a screw driver is necessary. Unless marked otherwise, all of these designs have been built, tested and verified. PCBs and 3D prints have been completely fabricated and assembled, received-ready-to-test-and-use in the US. Everything necessary to build up this hardware is freely available in the Open Source Hardware files provided. Using descriptions and instructions provided in this documentation, along with the binary and source files, the end user can put together finished HW entirely by him/herself.

To create one of these assembled kits, using the information and instructions on these pages the user gathers all the necessary HW and SW components. Typically this involves using the provided:

Manufacturing "Binary" files - packages of Gerber, BOM and component placement files. These are complete 'machine readable files' that contain the information necessary to specify and have a finished PCB produced by JLCPCB. HowToJLCPCB describes how to order an assembled PCB, shipped to one's QTH. This step is probably a new one for many and is a major way this OSHW experiment is different from previous ham construction projects. Recently a second supplier/fabricator, PCBWay, has been tested on the SAPreamp with good results. The same binary file package as for JLCPCB was completely adequate to obtain a completed PCB assembly. This may offer an alternative 'one click' ordering method which could be even simpler. Look for this option in the individual project material lists.
FW and SW files - For kits that contain a cpu controller, binary code has also been provided.
Assembly &Test files & documentation - If included, notes, hints or detail found to be useful for kit construction. These may be in an associated document.
(optional) Source files - For most designs there are also files to allow design examination, modification and generation of new binary files for HW, FW and 3Dprintable creation. As for open source software case, this provides a way for the builder, user or user community to make modifications and improvements in a design and freely share them back.

Each of these file groups is normally provided from a web page in a single .zip file that can be downloaded by clicking on it in the Material List.

These Open Source designs can be examined and modified by using an appropriate application: KiCad for PCB files, FreeCAD for 3D printed ones, or Android IDE for firmware. For quick and easy direct viewing of a PCB schematic or board design, download the Source file from its Material List, unzip/extract it and drop the .sch or .pcb file inside onto KiCanvas running in a web browser. Bare PCB layers can be examined by further extracting the Gerber files from the Binary and viewing them usign a Gerber file viewer.

To create a finished and working kit any additional parts such as enclosures and panels are ordered from a provider indicated in the material list, if applicable, a CPU is programmed and lastly all these are put together by the builder to obtain a finished, assembled and working product. This final process often does not require any soldering at all.

In Step 1 above, it is also possible to order only a bare PCB with no components. This is an especially good option for designs having very few parts that can be easily placed and either re-flow or hand soldered at home. Doing this speeds the process and avoids the one-time assembly, setup and shipping costs which can easily be much larger than the assembled board cost. See HowToRawPCB if this method is desired. Minimum build quantity is 5 for bare PCBs and 2 for assembled/complete PCBs.

A prospective builder may decide which of these methods is preferable by comparing final cost and effort for each of them before ordering. One-time setup and engineering charges are often more than the cost of a few PCBs so ordering larger quantities and sharing among several end users may make sense.

This is Open Source so the user may also modify any of these files to best suit desires and needs. PCB component values/part#'s can be directly changed at order time without requiring any file modifications. Sometimes there may be shortfall at JLCPCB of a part and selecting an alternate part can be a good option. Otherwise it may be necessary to pre-order sufficient quantities by JLCPCB.

If you have suggestions for ways to correct or improve these instructions please contact me so that I may change them.
If you build up one of these kits please let me know how it went. it will give me an idea of interest and future products.
If you have proven design improvements or new Open Source Hardware designs, please share them with everyone.

Glenn n6gn

Fort Collins, CO