Badly-drawn schematics

[carbonzit]

I nominate this abomination for most badly-drawn schematic of the week.

Maybe someone here can come up with some kind of booby prize.

 

[KJ6EAD]

It can't win; it's not a schematic; it's a pictograph and the text is too clean. It will receive honorable mention at best.

 

[simonbramble]

Poorly drawn or not, it is just a bad circuit. For boost converters, you need a fast acting rectifier diode (Schottky) and the one they use will cause spikes on the FET that might blow it up. The output regulation is done via the Zener, so that will have to dissipate the power that is not taken by the load. There is also no current limit on the inductor current - you are relying purely on the ON time of the FET. 555's work OK for a basic boost, but the ripple will not be good, but are good for analysing a basic switched mode power supply

For those who are interested, I have written some design notes on boost converters and what to look out for:
http://www.simonbramble.co.uk/dc_dc_converter_design/dc_dc_converter_design.htm

 

[Ian Rogers]

When showing schematics.. I wish people would just download fritzing...its free and soooo much better at describing issues..

Carbon!! I really didn't think that was that bad....

 

[Grossel]

Doing this with Inkscape

Hi.

Cool overlay drawing there (link in first post).

However, you can make it even better results by using Inkscape.

When I wiew some idea of changes to a schematic picture, I do it in this way:

1. Download picture to a folder on the computer
2. Open explorer and navigate to the folder where the image file is located (your download folder)
3. Make sure that there is a link to Inkscape on desktop and that explorer window doesn't cover this icon
4. Drag the picture file from within explorer and INTO the Inkscape icon on the desktop
5. Doesn't really matter if answering yes or no on link question (Inkscape ask for that if a graphic file is first argument in opening of program)
6. Make a bottom layer in Inkscape and move image object into that layer
7. Make that layer locked
8. Make another layer on top.
9. Now - draw any changes.

Tip: Deleting/wipe of lines can be done by adding another middle layer and just put some white objects into that layer (and over the original drawing).

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

One of the main reasons that schematic looks so bad is because most people automatically assume that those 'resistors' are regular fixed value resistors, when really that is the schematic symbol for a"resaster", which is part true resistor and part raspberry.

 

[JimB]

Yes,I understand whatCarbon is getting at.

All too often there are schematics posted here, usually by "newbies", and the layout of that schematic is dreadfull.

These schematics are usually drawn with some proprietry schematic drawing package, but the layout of components and routing of wires is really bad, so bad infact that it is very difficult to understand some very simple circuits.

I dont have any specific examples in mind at the moment, but they are out there in the wider ETO forum.

JimB

 

[hexreader]

I wish people would just download fritzing

I tried it, but it doesn't seem to work with Vista 32.

.....but thanks for trying

 

[canadaelk]

Ah, the electronic equivalent of Gertrude Stein by Picasso! Got to love it! E

 

[Lake9398]

MS paint is not legitimate schematic drafting software haha

 

[Ian Rogers]

Hexreader!! I have vista, fritzing works fine for me... Have you tried designspark from RS? It's also free (3D capability aswell)

 

[colin mac]

Yeah, DesignSpark is a really great software and totally free too.

 

[KJ6EAD]

I wish people would just download fritzing.

I kept getting a missing dll file issue. It's supposed to be compatible with Windows XP and forward. Maybe I'll try again later.

 

[audioguru]

The worst looking schematic is a negative that has a black background and wires that are impossible to see.

The next worse looking schematic is drawn by Multisim where there is a grid of chicken-pox dots all over it and the wires zig and zag a lot.

 

[Grossel]

Some of the worse schematic drawings is by mine opinion those saved as fyzzy jpg image files.

Oh, yes there is an even worse (compared to that AND audioguru's hate list) - it's scanned chematics where scanner is configured to scan black'n white only. Those is really ugly.

I think we should vote for the worst schematic drawing/scanning technique/format.

 

[crutschow]

The next worse looking schematic is drawn by Multisim where there is a grid of chicken-pox dots all over it and the wires zig and zag a lot.

You can turn off those dots in Multisim under the "View" menu but unfortunately the dots are the default mode and most users don't turn them off (or don't know you can).

 

[OlPhart]

I'll take the Fifth... (one shot at a time)

After 15+ years, only now I'm trying to migrate from a desktop publishing illustration package to something meant for schematics. Back in '93, computer graphics was crude or expensive. Prior to that, I was all pencil & paper.

So, I'll have more tolerance for this subject, at least they're trying. For the totally obscure, maybe a pointer to a good package and that they redraw it for quality answers. <<<)))

 

[carbonzit]

Well, that's a good point, but it turns out that a good draftsperson can use practically any drawing program to make a decent schematic.

For myself, I've settled on drawing schematics with Corel Draw. I've built an "electronics parts box", with pre-made symbols that I can copy and paste into a drawing. Of course, it lacks all the nice features of an actual schematic-drawing program, like being able to snap parts into a grid and easily connect them; I've got to line everything up by hand. But I think if you look through my schematics here on this site, you'll agree that it can make some very readable schematics.

This is certainly several steps up, by the way, from using a primitive paint program like Microsoft Paint, which should really not be considered for any serious usage at all. For paint, I use Paint Shop Pro, which at least starts to approach the kind of functionality of Photoshop. My current workflow is to produce the schematic drawing in Corel Draw, export it to a 256-color GIF, then use Paint Shop Pro to reduce it to 16 colors (reduces file size significantly).

You can even capture schematics from LTspice this way. Export the schematic to a WMF file; drop the WMF into Corel Draw; export to GIF; import to Paint Shop Pro. (In this case I deal with the drawing as a 16-color GIF, to preserve the LTspice color scheme.)

 

[audioguru]

MS paint is not legitimate schematic drafting software haha

ALL my schematics are made with and are modified with MS Paint program.
Most symbols are simply copied and pasted from datasheets or from other schematics. My schematics are very clear.

 

[MrAl]

Hi audioguru and Lake,

I too like to use MS Paint for drawing schematics and i have used it for years now. I even went as far as to create my own secondary software to automatically paste circuit symbols to the clipboard which can then be easily pasted into MS Paint and placed where needed in the drawing. For example, clicking "Resistors, small", puts four different graphics of resistors onto the clipboard which can then be easily pasted into MS Paint.

Lake, by "legitimate" i can only assume that you are referring to some schematic drawing standard that is standard in drafting, but on many sites such as this one we dont have to adhere to such a strict standard.