On 6 Feb 2005 08:25:33 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

Supposedly there are now board houses that'll take gerber
files directly, and inexpensive (free) software for the
layout. By the time the other tech had showed up with the
layout I already had two of the small (3/4 x 1.5) boards done.
Tantalizing though. I may make the next ones I need that
way.

I make some simple boards too, but I sure like working with
commercial two-sided boards with plated-thru holes and vias.
www.barebonesPCB.com will accept gerber files, even do a free online
design rule check beforoe you order boards. The cost is about $35
plus 50 cents/square inch of board. The " barebones" boards dont have
any soldermask or silkscreen and no fancy routing, but they're
good-quality boards with down to 8-mil traces. Some of the board
houses won't let you "panelize" -- have several small circuits on one
board. These guys don't have any problem with that. Send 'em the
files, they'll make you the boards. My bikelight boards were an
addon to another board. I then sheared off the stick of flashlight
boards, sliced them up and made them round on a belt sander.

For small projects, there is free PCB layout software available that
isn't limited to one board house. It can check the layout against
the schematic, (BIG HELP!) and it can produce Gerber files rather
than one house's proprietary file format. It looks pretty good,
though I haven't used it.
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/

I was really, really impressed when I took apart some el-cheapo
flashlights recently. It had stopped working so I cut into it.
Used a simple small white LED - the kind with the clear plastic
dome and two leads out the back - along with two SMT transistors,
a surface mount resistor and capacitor or two, and an SMT inductor.

No IC? That's interesting! Might be a blocking oscillator, but I'm
surprised that it regulates well.