Ask HN: What resources exist to help me build my own PCB boards?

4 points by sky_projektor 6 years ago | 4 comments

Hi!

I am an electronics novice who want to design my own PCB for some projects. I am looking for any resources or materials (apps, url, books) to guide me in my endeavor.

ChrisGammell 6 years ago |

I have a youtube tutorial for making a PCB using KiCad (5.0) called "Getting To Blinky". It has helped some people design their first PCB. This will be a separate exercise from learning about actual electronics, but will help you get a PCB made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhWh3AsXQs&list=PLy2022BX6E...

davismwfl 6 years ago |

As for books to learn from, get the latest edition of "The Art of Electronics", that is kinda like a bible to a lot of people. I have definitely learned a lot from it.

As for making PCB's, personally I pay for a subscription to Eagle. Yea there are better software solutions out there (Altium), but the cost is significantly more. I personally like Eagle better than KiCad, I think Eagle has made a lot of progress and I can tie it to Fusion360 now and do full design views, enclosures, heating etc. Altium is the more professional and complete solution, and they have a free version called CircuitMaker (same company IIRC just not as sophisticated). I like Eagle because there are tons of resources to help you with, getting parts into the library is easy and it isn't hard to use.

As for creating PCB's (assuming you are US based), Use Osh Park (https://oshpark.com/) over seeedstudio, although I have used both. I'll still use seeed sometimes for prototypes and even small runs when I need more optionality than OshPark allows. There are some other US based production houses like OshPark that I use from time to time too.

mdorazio 6 years ago |

Do you mean actually build a PCB? If so, there are many tutorials using different types of tools on instructables.com For best results you'll want to get access to a laser cutter or small CNC mill, perhaps through a local makerspace. That being said, there are now many short-run and one-off PCB manufacturing houses you can use for much higher quality boards than you can make yourself. People seem to like seeed for this - https://www.seeedstudio.com/fusion_pcb.html

If you want to learn the design side, there are many other threads on HN with tool recommendations. Ex. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16533475

sky_projektor 6 years ago |

Thank you!

I realised, that I was looking for a text book for electronics, because online courses had confused me as I had been doing it without a reference text. The Art of electronics, (PDF, IIIrd edition) appears to be the one I had been looking for. I shall definitely be checking seedstudio as well.