#BuiltInUpverter

The Story

Shane Petcavich first got interested in analog hardware after reading a book by Hans R. Camenzind, the Swiss electronics engineer behind the 555 timer IC. He had gotten familiar with integrated circuits while earning his BS in electrical engineering, but he had never gotten into the nitty-gritty of them; he wanted to know the internal workings to understand them better.

But when his initial search for suitable resources came back with lackluster results, Shane decided to set up Open Analog, an organization dedicated to exciting makers about analog hardware (one look at their site and you know they are enthusiastic about analog design!). They create transistor-level kits of popular ICs to allow users to probe the insides and learn how they work. Their first kit, SevenFortyFun, is based off the 741 op-amp and is currently on Kickstarter to secure its first batch of PCBs and parts for production volume.

The software packages being used in the industry are overcomplicated, bloated, and not very user-friendly. Since I’ve never made a PCB before, I wanted something that didn’t have a steep learning curve.

Derived from schematics of the 741 op-amp found online, SevenFortyFun was Shane’s very first printed circuit board project. While he was familiar with schematic capture tools from his experience working with professional audio equipment, he was relatively new to the layout side of hardware design. Upverter's interface was simple and intuitive, saving him time on learning a new set of tools.

Using Upverter's exported manufacturing files, the first prototype of SevenFortyFun was manufactured by OSH Park in the USA. Even though it was his first board design, the whole process was fast and seamless with no hiccups that required unnecessary re-doing of work.

The schematic capture took minutes to learn… I'd recommend Upverter to anyone just starting out on hardware.

True to its name, Open Analog is all about the Open Hardware movement with extensive documentation of its projects made public and accessible on Upverter and Github. Sharing the design files is made especially easy with Upverter's download options in addition to the option to fork a copy to edit. Any changes made to the original gets instnatly reflected in the design file, always keeping it up-to-date.

Open Analog plans to develop and release additional transistor-level kits to dissect other common-place ICs, like the 555 Timer IC, low-dropout regulator, switching regulator, and more!

Be sure to support Open Analog on Kickstarter and help fund the next revision of the SevenFortyFun kit! You can find out more about the Open Source project on Upverter as well as GitHub.