On Apr 26, 2012, at 11:50 AM, Bob Blick wrote: > Tag added. At 06:07 AM 4/26/2012, Cubcruiser wrote: >20 years ago when I was still a practicing Engineer I ran across a=20 >company that was making single board computers based on the 8051=20 >using Chip on Board technology. All the support hardware was on the=20 >small board which I believe was about 2x3. This board was attached=20 >to your main board via a couple of rows of pins that plugged into=20 >connectors or were soldered in place. You the designed your main=20 >board with all the interface hardware you needed. > >It seems like this would be a low cost way of designing a prototype=20 >system and then transition into a reasonable cost small production=20 >run of parts. I have started looking and I would guess that the=20 >Arduino and PIC development boards are a similar concept but from=20 >what I have seen they tend to have extras on board that I don't need=20 >and are priced accordingly. > >I am going to design/build a run of about 30 motor controllers that=20 >will drive 30 amp (max) motors bidirectionally and will have a=20 >keypad and LCD display. > >Any suggestions on a system that will allow me to prototype and then=20 >build a small run cost effectively? I don't think that I will be=20 >able to build multi layer boards for the processors but could build=20 >one for the H Bridge and other interfaces. Wow! This can start quite a thread! I'm sure that lots of people=20 will jump in with LOTS of suggestions. Let me start . For simple processor boards, check out Arduino. I'm particularly=20 fond of the Microchip variant of these called "chipKIT", made by=20 Digilent. You will find them at . There are=20 two versions: a really inexpensive version called a chipKIT Uno32 and=20 its big brother: the chipKIT Max32. The Uno32 lists for about $27=20 and has 42 available i/o lines. The Max32 lists for about $50 and=20 has 83 available i/o lines. You can add Digilent's "Basic I/I Shield", which gives you a cool=20 32x128 graphics display, 4 each push-button and slide switches, 4-=20 low current MOSFETs, etc. Its great for playing around with. For motor control stuff, head over to . Click on=20 the "Motion Control Modules" link on the left - they have a ton of=20 inexpensive motor control chips on PCBs that can be integrated into=20 most anything. The beefiest of these is good up to 25 Amps, with=20 lots of selection in the 9A to 20A region. dwayne --=20 Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .