PCB Manufacture

[Malc-c]

Hi Guys,

I'm developing a cross platform project for the hobby / model world. It's basically a 16 Channel lighting controller with PWM outputs. I used PCBWay to have 5 prototype boards made and I can't praise them enough for the excellent quality of the boards, and the fast turn-around, even though I chose the standard 3-5 day production run. DHL also pulled their finger out and the boards were delivered the same day the plane touched down !!

Five boards, double sided standard 1.6mm, 1oz copper - $36 - DHL $25 - (+ customs duty and VAT -£16 ) - Even with the shipping and duty, it's still hundreds of pounds cheaper than any UK PCB house I contacted.

I opted for SMD components, which whilst allowing for a compact board was a killer on my fading eyesight !!

Just waiting for the last few components and then its on to ironing out any issue through testing...

If anyone is looking at having some PCBs made up then I would strongly recommend PCBWay

[Intercity]

Would this be a possible avenue to make replacement PCBs for engines that don't have board made by the manufacturer anymore? I'm think more along the lines of the class 86s of which I have several that I believe I need boards for (DCC are out), if possible is there a risk of infringing on copyrights or falling foul of anything legally?

[Malc-c]

If you have a schematic for the circuit diagram, and the dimensions of the board then you could use any PCB layout software to design your own board.  As far as I know, because it's not a copy of an existing board made by someone else (the original manufacture for example) then you would not be breaching any copyright IMO. 

As circuits have to meet with the component manufactures guidelines I don't think you could copyright the layout, for example for a simple LED circuit at a certain voltage it will require a set value resistor to limit the current.  You can't copyright that circuit. So for example if the board you mention just has some directional diodes & current limiting resistors for the head and tail light LEDs then this wouldn't (IMO) infringe any copyright.  If however you were cloning a DCC board (assuming you could read back the code programmed into the chip) then this would be an infringement as the code would be the intellectual property of the developer.