EE derangement symptoms

[djacobow]

You ever spend hour and hours designing a PCB your are probably never going to make?

Let's say you built a PCB for this personal project already, and it worked fine, but with a couple of minor bodges that irked you.

So you did it again, this time bodge-free and that also works.

But then every time you look at it, which is often, since you put it in a case with a clear top, you notice something you don't like, and it never stops, ever.

... I should have moved that trace
... I should have used a polygon fill for that
... that connector would be better over there
... why did I use those three TH parts when the rest of the project was SMT
... some of those refdes placement are confusing
... should have put more thermal vias
... if I had turned that component 45 degrees, it would have been prettier
... should have put esd diodes there
... etc, ad infinitum

I just cannot stop tweaking this stupid design. And I'm not going to build a new one anyway.

[fourtytwo42]

I am also a railway modeller and in 50 years I have never considered a layout finished yet, same goes for code, any DIY project of any kind, also teaching the wife to drive

[JPortici]

when the PCB is done i need to decompress. It is sent to the cheap chinese fab of the month and when it comes in the week lateer i can look at it with fresh eyes and see everything i have to modify (ugly tracks i somehow missed, better placements etc, mechanical or mounting holes issues)
I assemble it anyways so firmware and testing can go on. here is the part when i see that i can also move pins around on the micro to make my life easier when coding
and when it's done the modifications are made and the board is sent in to the chinese fab to see if mechanical is correct then it is sent to the fab

[abraxa]

But then every time you look at it, which is often, since you put it in a case with a clear top, you notice something you don't like, and it never stops, ever.

... I should have moved that trace
... I should have used a polygon fill for that
... that connector would be better over there
... why did I use those three TH parts when the rest of the project was SMT
... some of those refdes placement are confusing
... should have put more thermal vias
... if I had turned that component 45 degrees, it would have been prettier
... should have put esd diodes there
... etc, ad infinitum

I just cannot stop tweaking this stupid design. And I'm not going to build a new one anyway.

Sounds like OCD to me

To some degree, engineers have to be obsessive-compulsive about their work. I think we can agree that devices/facilities with attention to detail evoke a certain sense of quality and thus trust. What you're doing also helps you prevent doing those mistakes in future projects, so it's part of honing your skill and becoming better. It's only when other things suffer from this obsession is when it becomes a problem - e.g. social life, chores, personal hygiene (yes, there are really people like this).

tl;dr version: I see nothing wrong here, just an engineer wanting to become better. Go on

[djacobow]

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not alone. There are a lot of people on this board who seem to "know what they are doing" and they do not seem to make very many mistakes, but I certainly do. In fact, I make mistakes when I do know what I'm doing.

I'm always a cheapskate, so I always choose the slow shipping for my PCBs from China. Which means that 9 times out of 10, I have made changes to the board before I even get the first one back, which means that I can end up with multiple boards in flight. I have actually learned to tone that down, though, and I use the time my boards are on a boat as a period to relax and get away from electronics.

But the one thing I can't seem to do is get to the point where something is "finished." :-)

[JPortici]

then take a closer look ad the 3d render, move it around... then print the pcb and try to look at it "on paper"
i found out that it helps, but not as much as waiting fo a couple of days and looking at the physical boards (but i'm sure that it's mostly the "a couple of days" that do the trick)

re: finished, at some point just call it a day and move on, write all annotations down for when a new release will be necessary

[Aeternam]

teaching the wife to drive

This. And oh boy does she love it.

I dreamt about via sizes last night. I might need help.

[Brumby]

Might?

[Buriedcode]

then take a closer look ad the 3d render, move it around... then print the pcb and try to look at it "on paper"
i found out that it helps, but not as much as waiting fo a couple of days and looking at the physical boards (but i'm sure that it's mostly the "a couple of days" that do the trick)

re: finished, at some point just call it a day and move on, write all annotations down for when a new release will be necessary

This.  It should be added to a sticky or something. 

I think the sorts of personality traits that make for a good EE - or at least traits that give one a propensity for 'tinkering' and taking things apart to see how they work, such as a need for complete understand of something - also lead to perfectionism in some sense, which goes against engineering, where nothing is perfect, it is all a compromise.   It wouldn't surprise me to learn that being unhappy with layouts on a regular basis is very common. Nor the habit of keeping hold of 'junk' for parts that might be worth something.

[Fgrir]

- also lead to perfectionism in some sense, which goes against engineering, where nothing is perfect, it is all a compromise.

But there must be a perfect compromise - that's what optimization is all about.

IMHO as an engineer my job is to continuously seek perfection in whatever I am working on.  It is management's job to take the project away from me when it is good enough...

[wraper]

better is enemy of good.

[Cyberdragon]

And I thought I had OCD...