Quickboards: an open source library of circuit building blocks - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: msalih
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 08:08:27 pm
content: Hi everyone,I'm excited to share a project I've been working on called Quickboards—a modular prototyping system to streamline the electronics development process.As an electronics design engineer, I often found myself spending too much time on repetitive tasks such as research, component selection, looking for application schematics, etc instead of focusing on design and innovation of the intended application. Quickboards aims to solve that by offering:Plug-and-play modules for common components and circuits.Simplified connections to lessen wiring complexity.Reusable boards to reduce project to project prototyping costs.Open source schematics & firmware to simplify product development.The library is organized into several categories, including: Processor blocks, Power Management Blocks, Data Acquisition Blocks, Sensor Blocks, Communication Blocks, Analog Blocks, Display/Interface Blocks, Connector Blocks, Motor Control Blocks and maybe a few others.I’m planning to launch on Kickstarter soon, but before that, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.Would this be something you’d find useful in your projects? What features would you like to see in a system like this?You can learn more and sign up for updates atwww.quickboards.io.Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 08:19:25 pm
content: BOB's (breatoit boards) have been around for a long time. What's your shtick for being faster or more cost effective?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 08:41:16 pm
content: Quote from: msalih on January 27, 2025, 08:08:27 pmZero technical information => zero interest.Zero business information => zero interest.There are many such boards available. What's special about these?

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 09:42:22 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on January 27, 2025, 08:41:16 pmIsn't that what "shtick" means. I love Yiddish words as they sound like what they mean, even when you don't know Yiddish. That's why Google translate often gives the same English translation to Yiddish words as the Yiddish. English has the ability to assimilate many words, another is honcho, that have come to sound like what they mean.

author: msalih
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 11:32:08 pm
content: I kept the first post concise and provided additional details on my site for those interested. Let me expand here for clarity:Breakout boardsare designed to make IC pins accessible in a breadboard-friendly format. However, to operate the IC, you often need to add supporting components—such as pull-up/pull-down resistors, decoupling capacitors, and filters—on the breadboard.Development boards, sometimes referred to as breakout boards, take this concept further by including the IC along with its necessary peripheral components. Companies like Adafruit and SparkFun offer such boards, though their businesses are primarily aimed at entry-level electronics engineers and enthusiasts. These boards only come with open-source firmware for Arduino.The Quickboards library stands out with several key differentiators:Targeted at Professionals: Quickboards are designed for advanced electronics prototyping, offering building blocks for applications like battery management systems, Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPTs), gate drivers, inverters, opto-electrical systems, fiber optic transceivers, Ethernet switches, and more.Seamless ECAD Integration: Each Quickboard includes ready-to-use schematic files and libraries for Altium Designer, EagleCAD, and KiCAD, with future support for additional ECAD tools based on user demand.Firmware Compatibility: Quickboards come with firmware drivers compatible with leading microcontroller platforms, including Microchip, Atmel, Texas Instruments, and STM32.Centralized Database of Reference Designs: Quickboards provide access to a centralized, searchable database of validated reference designs, making it easy to find, adapt, and implement proven circuit solutions for a wide range of applications.The primary goal of Quickboards is to streamline the electronics development workflow by minimizing repetitive tasks, from prototyping to schematic generation.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 11:36:56 pm
content: How about a concrete example here to demonstrate the marketing buzz?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2025, 01:15:59 am
content: Quote from: msalih on January 27, 2025, 11:32:08 pmNot that I could see. Maybe I'm blind, but you only have 30s to grab my attention, and I am not going to hunt past pretty pictures on the off chance there might be something interesting.I very much doubt a professional would - as in one of your animations - use a solderless breadboard with lots of 100nH inductors making connections between them. They will need and expect a solid ground plane with short wires.Will they be of interest to a professional if you only have 50% of the subcircuits necessary for the design?Will you be able to supply sufficiently good CAD integration, and keep everything in sync over time?How much time will it actually save? Bog-standard subcircuits will be put on the final schematic and PCB without prototyping. Specialised subcircuits will have to be bread boarded by other means.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2025, 09:14:42 pm
content: Fairly clear in the original post that it was for prototypes: "Quickboards—amodular prototypingsystem"

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2025, 10:28:31 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on January 31, 2025, 09:14:42 pmFairly clear in posts that it is intended to be more than just that - particularly the CAD route to production.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2025, 11:37:30 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on January 31, 2025, 10:28:31 pmNo you've decided its something you don't like before understanding what was being advertised."By leveraging QUICKBOARDS, engineers can reduce project risks, streamline development time, and lower overall costswhile ensuring reliable and efficient PCB designs are generated on the first iteration."Some of these type of products do end up getting used in production due to time constraints, though its not that common.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2025, 11:50:01 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on January 31, 2025, 11:37:30 pmI don't see the contradiction.Are you under the misapprehension that production implies a certain volume? Throughout my career the product has often been a one-off item.

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2025, 09:23:38 am
content: Quote from: msalih on January 27, 2025, 08:08:27 pmResearch, component selection are a part of the design process. I can't see myself innovating unless i do it from the ground up. It's a part of the design process, not a separate thing.Best wishes, hope you find a decent niche to cater to.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2025, 02:56:18 pm
content: I like the attempt to be breadboard compatible. This also makes it easier to solder one-off projects on matrix board, but you seem to be wasting a lot of breadboard area. PCB's are not very expensive these days, but the cost still scales with PCB size.For my own experiments, I combine breadboards with Lego. I have a pretty big Lego base plate permanently glued to a piece of MDF, and I glue little strips of Lego to a lot of other things, such as:BreadboardsBreadboards sawn in two, and made with wider spacing (especially for adapter boards).USB HubLogic AnalyzerProgrammerSMPS modules.Volt meter modules.Big connectors.LCD displayI find this method to work quite cheap, good and universal. Almost any electronic part or small measurement equipment can be glued (with hot glue) to a strip of Lego. The Lego base plate also prevents relative movement between all the modules. You can ealily pick up the whole thing at the end of a day and then put it in some drawer, and then continue next week.Also, Logic analyzers (the USD 7 variant is good enough for most projects) and programmers (ST-Link V2, also < USD 10) are cheap. I have a bunch of them, and I tend to keep them attached via an USB hub semi permanently to the different projects I am working on. (I also have two Kings LA2016 Logic Analyzers, but have not glued Lego strips to them yet) For the different USB gadgets, I have some self made USB cords which are just 10cm long. Just enough for in between the Hub and the gadget. I also have some USB hubs (which are relatively big) with Lego glued both to the top and bottom. So small projects can just be stuck to the top of the USB hub, or you stick an programmer and LA on the hub, and then put the whole thing on a bigger baseplate.Another nice thing are all the SMPS modules from Aliexpress. Some have displays, some don't. Some can generate upto 20V from a 5V USB plug (available on the already present USB hub).For the rest, I am not very interested into an eco system of electronic modules from a single manufacturer. In my projects I usually combine parts from all sorts of different sources.

author: aiq25
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 08:55:46 pm
content: I recently (well last fall but been toying with the idea for a while) started a side project of selling professionally developed development boards. I sold a few on Tindie. I priced them in between cheap options from Aliexpress and professional solutions available from IC manufacturers like TI, Microchip, etc...I tried this with a lot of scrap IC's I got over the years at various places I worked at, so initial investment was very low and I manually populated the boards, so in terms of profit I'm at a great lossBut this is more of an experiment.I think the biggest hurdle in the professional community is you have 10,000's of IC's you can make development/breakout boards for. I have been working in the automotive industry for the last 13 years and there are few staples (like for CAN, regulators, etc...) we use but in general there are 10-100's of options for each function.I think you can be successful but you need a huge inventory like MikroElektronika and their Click boards.Out of curiosity, are you building them in-house or external contract manufacturer?Best of luck to you though! You are going through a lot of effort and I hope it pays off!