Is there a directory of open source hardware projects?

Question

I would like to print a fairly common circuit. But I don't want to design the PCB myself. Where should I look when searching for PCB layouts?

I think this may fall under community wiki, unless a single answer will probably clearly be correct, I think this will have many people posting different questions. — Kortuk, Oct 21 '10 at 00:02

Chris Gammell · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21T19:23:09.390

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If you're interested in arduino, there is http://shieldlist.org. It's a wiki listing of all of the boards that can interface to the arduino board. All should be licensed as open hardware.

edited Oct 21 '10 at 19:23

answered Oct 21 '10 at 19:13

Chris Gammell

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I'm very interested! – Jader Dias Oct 21 '10 at 23:30
It was started and maintained by Jon Oxer of Freetronics – Chris Gammell Oct 21 '10 at 23:53

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 12 '17 at 07:31

Several places publish open-source PCB design files:

Olimex sponsors open-source PCB contest every month; all documentation (including the PCB layout) is posted on the Massmind
Circuit Cellar magazine hosts design contests a couple times a year; often PCB layout and other documentation is posted on the Circuit Cellar "contests" page.
The Open Circuits wiki has a list of open-source hardware projects.

Sometimes people post open-source hardware design files on one of the popular open-source software places -- Google code, Sourceforge, Launchpad, Github, etc.

A few places are trying to make it easy to buy open-source PCBs -- the actual, physical things you hold in your hands, not merely some computer file:

BatchPCB will sell more copies of your PCBs to anyone else that wants one. And give you money. Why wouldn't you want that? BatchPCB discussion forum at Sparkfun. A database of PCBs other people have designed.
Open Source Hardware Bank (early discussion) has a library of open-source PCBs
Seeedstudio has discussed a library of open-source PCBs.
Arduino Shield List links to the source of many Arduino shield designs. Some of those sources merely publish the PCB layout files; others, in addition, sell the physical hardware -- typically as a kit.

http://opencircuits.com is interesting – Jader Dias Mar 16 '11 at 20:14 — Jader Dias, Mar 16 '11 at 20:14

Jader Dias · Answer 3 · 2010-10-21T10:32:45.303

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I found some open source hardware at

http://code.google.com/hosting/search?q=hardware

but there are many software projects in these results also.

The only way I found of getting hardware only results is searching for PCB files:

http://www.google.com/codesearch?as_q=file%3A%5C.(grb%7Cpcb%7Cpcbdoc%7Cbrd%7Cgto%7C057%7Cgbl%7Cgto%7Cgbo%7Cgts)%24

edited Oct 21 '10 at 10:32

answered Oct 20 '10 at 23:34

Jader Dias

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The file searches won't catch everything, because different EDA packageshave different naming conventions. .pcb .pcbdoc .brd , .grb .gto .057 .gbl .gto .gbo .gts .gbs etc... off the top of my head – Connor Wolf Oct 21 '10 at 05:17
@Fake thanks, I edited the answer to include a link that searches for all those extensions – Jader Dias Oct 21 '10 at 10:34
The list I gave is *not* comprehensive. It still may miss some results. – Connor Wolf Oct 22 '10 at 07:06

kasbah · Answer 4 · 2018-01-19T15:25:33.083

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I have built kitspace.org with expressly this purpose. It is an open source site for posting open source hardware electronics projects. The site makes it easy for others to find the Gerber design files and buy the required parts.

edited Jan 19 '18 at 15:25

answered Apr 25 '17 at 21:52

kasbah

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OIO · Answer 5 · 2010-10-22T17:57:36.167

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Maybe you find something interesting in the Arduino board at Dangerous Prototypes forum:

Project development, ideas, and suggestions >> Arduino

edited Oct 22 '10 at 17:57

answered Oct 22 '10 at 01:57

OIO

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I would like to add: that's a link to the Project development, ideas, and suggestions for Arduino section in the Dangerousprototypes.com forum. – Jader Dias Oct 22 '10 at 11:35
Added it into the post for you. – Amos Oct 22 '10 at 13:53
Made it better. – OIO Oct 22 '10 at 18:05

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 16 '11 at 20:53

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http://bildr.org/ aims to be a complete open source electronics community (wiki, forum, etc.)

http://www.opencircuits.com/ aims to be a complete open source electronics wiki

(I found both via SparkFun)

answered Mar 16 '11 at 20:53

terrace

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Is there a directory of open source hardware projects?

6 Answers6