Circuit Board Design Class

CIRCUIT BOARD DESIGN CLASS
5 Lessons Beginner Level
In this class, you will learn how to design a custom printed circuit board from a breadboard
prototype. This is useful if you want to make multiple copies of a circuit board for your project, or
simply want to add a level of polish and professionalism to your work. By creating your own
custom circuit boards, you are elevating your project to more refined levels of design and
fabrication.
While this may seem intimidating, it is actually easy to do if you take your time and do it carefully.
I will show you how to digitize a circuit in the freeware version of Autodesk Eagle and then how to
convert the schematic into board files which can be sent out for fabrication. Once you see for
yourself how easy this process is, you will be hooked. There are few greater feelings in the wild
world of electronics than holding your first custom manufactured circuit board in your hand.
I hope that you will follow along with me as I teach you how to design a circuit board.
Class Author:
randofo (/member/randofo/)
Randy Sarafan is an artist, designer, inventor, and founder of the Instructables Design Studio. Over the last 10 years he has
created hundreds of step-by-step tutorials (https://www.instructables.com/member/randofo/?show=INSTRUCTABLES) on
diverse subjects ranging from pancakes to self-driving robotic queen-sized beds. He has authored two books, 62 Projects to
Make with a Dead Computer (http://www.workman.com/products/9780761152439/) and Simple Bots
(https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1107111656).
His work has been showcased by the NY Times, Popular Mechanics, The Today Show, The Tonight Show, NPR, the BBC,
Core77, Boing Boing, and the National Examiner (to name a few). He currently splits his time between Brooklyn, NY and the
internet.
Circuit Board Design Class: Page 1

Lessons
Lesson 1: PCB Concepts and Materials

We begin by learning some of the basic concepts and terminology
related to circuit boards. We will review what tools and materials you
will need to complete the class.
Lesson 2: Preparing a Schematic

Before we can design the board itself, there is some prep work that
needs to happen. In this lesson we will start with a breadboard and
end with a digital rendering of the schematic.
Lesson 3: Laying Out the Board

Once the schematic is done, it is just a button-click away from turning
in a circuit board. Well... almost. Learn how to layout the parts and
draw traces to complete your circuit board.
Lesson 4: Manufacturing
In this lesson we cover basic validation of the design file and discuss
selecting a manufacturer.
Lesson 5: Assembling the Board

Finally, we assemble our board and see if it works. Hopefully all is
good in the hood. However, if there are problems, we touch on some
basic troubleshooting techniques.

LESSON 1: PCB CONCEPTS AND MATERIALS
In this class we are going to learn how to convert a circuit from a mess of wires on a breadboard into a
custom printed circuit board. This class is intended for hobbyists who want to take their projects to the
next level and produce an end-product which is more finished. The benefit of designing a circuit board for
printing is that it is cleaner and more reliable than a circuit built on a breadboard or perf-board. The other
main benefit is that it is repeatable. If you need to make ten boards, it will save you a lot of time to have a
custom board printed.
This is an introductory level class and we will not be going over more advanced topics in design and
testing that would help you make your board ready for consumer manufacturing, but the skills covered here
are a stepping stone to making professional-quality circuit boards.

What Is a PCB?
PCB stands for "Printed Circuit Board." This is the standard circuit board you will find inside of most
electronic consumer products.
A PCB consists of a fiberglass board with conductive copper pathways or traces that connect together
electronic components that are soldered to them. The totality of connections between components is what
constitutes the circuit.
A standard circuit board has 4 layers that we need to concern ourselves with. This includes the base,
copper layer, soldermask and silkscreen layer.
The circuit board's base is typically made out of a type of fiberglass called FR4. This material provides
rigidity, and has good heat resistance properties. Thicknesses vary from board to board, but 1.6mm is fairly
common.

The copper layer is laid atop the fiberglass base (making the base "copper clad"). This is the layer that
conducts electricity and the circuit's components are soldered to. All of the circuit's connections occur on
the copper layer.
The soldermask is a layer of colored resin strategically laid over the copper layer to insulate the parts of
the circuit that do not get soldered to. Typically the soldermask is green, but it can be all kinds of different
colors.
The silkscreen layer is printed atop the soldermask and serves as a guide for assembling the board.
Typically, a circuit board will have two sides, which means there will be a top side and bottom side. Each
side can have all four of these layers, but the bottom often excludes a silkscreen layer since it is often
unnecessary (which also reduces manufacturing cost). This 2-sided arrangement is fairly standard and the
board we will design in this class will be like this.
More advanced circuit boards, such as you might find in a laptop or smartphone can have many conductive
layers or "sides" sandwiched together. However, we won't be covering anything that complicated in this
course.
The type of components we will be using to build circuits in this class use through holes. These are round
metal plated holes that serve to both connect the top and bottom copper layers together, and give you a
surface to solder the component to the board. In this class, I will be dealing exclusively with through-hole
parts.
The other common type of component you might attach to a PCB are surface mount. These are small
parts with metal tabs that get soldered directly to the surface of the board.

When designing the board we will refer to the parts of the circuit in different ways. Let's take a moment to
clarify the ways that we can talk about a part.
A component refers to any part used in a circuit. This is always referring to the part itself, and always has
the same symbol. It can and often does have a different package and footprint.
A symbol is used when drawing a schematic as a stand-in representation of a component. It has all of the
necessary pin connections required by the component.
A package is the 3-dimensional shape of the component, and also indicates how it mounts to the circuit
board (through hole, surface mount, or otherwise). This specification is typically provided by the
manufacturer or retailer and is used for selecting the appropriate footprint when designing the board.
A footprint is the 2-dimensional layout of the package atop the surface of the board. It consists of a
silkscreen layout, name label, plated through holes or pads, and any other necessary layout information.
There is, of course, much more terminology related to designing circuit boards, but this will be introduced
as we need it.

Download Software
To design a PCB we will be using Autodesk Eagle (https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/free-

download?mktvar004=707235&internalc=true) software, which is a CAD program specifically designed for
making circuit boards. This software is free for 2-sided boards up to 80cm². This should be more than
enough area for any hobby project.
You can download Eagle (https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/free-download?

mktvar004=707235&internalc=true) from Autodesk's website, and you will also need to sign up for a free
Autodesk account (https://accounts.autodesk.com/).

Gather Supplies
Since most of the design will be done on a computer, and the board will be sent out for manufacturing,
there are not really many things you will need.
In fact, the only things you will need for this class are:
A circuit (of your choosing) on a breadboard that you want to create a PCB for
Paper and a pencil
A fine tip marker (optional)
Digital calipers (optional, but recommended)
Once you have rounded up these things, it's time to get psyched for the next lesson.

LESSON 2: PREPARING A SCHEMATIC
Before we can lay out our circuit board we need to do a host of preparatory work. This includes creating a
schematic both on paper and digitally, and setting up a project within the Eagle software. Creating a
schematic is not just a helpful step, but a necessary step in the Eagle design process. The circuit board file
is linked to the schematic file, and any change you make to the schematic will eventually have an effect
upon the layout of the board. Albeit this may all seem like a lot of extra work, you will be glad you did all of
this later.

Draw a Schematic
I'm going on the working assumption that if you want to make a PCB you already know what a schematic
is and how to draw one. If you don't, I highly recommend first completing my basic Electronics Class
(https://www.instructables.com/class/Electronics-Class/).
To begin, draw out a schematic of your circuit on a piece of paper, using the breadboard as your guide.
Even if your circuit is copied from a different one, draw it out again. Perhaps you changed a connection or
a value of a component and forgot about it, or perhaps the original circuit was drawn incorrectly. Either
way, you want to make sure you have drawn the definitive schematic of the circuit you are making, drawn
in a manner that quickly makes sense to you. This schematic will later serve as your blueprint for making
connections in the design software.
It is helpful to use a pencil in case you draw something incorrectly and need to quickly make a change. For
instance, I forgot to add in a DPDT switch that lives off of the breadboard and is used to toggle the audio
signal routing.
When I'm done and sure the schematic is correct, I like to trace the whole thing in marker to finalize it.
Pencil tends to fade or get rubbed away over time.
Once it is traced, I then like to erase the remaining pencil marks to make it nice and pretty-looking.
B.O.M.
B.O.M. stands for Bill of Materials. This is the entire list of materials for your circuit. This can easily be
created by making a list of the components you see in the schematic.
To make matters even easier, I numbered each component in the schematic (the "Name" field below). This
makes sure I don't leave any of the parts out as each part should have a unique value in the materials list.
For my schematic, the B.O.M. is as follows:
Quantity Value Name Supplier Part Number

CF14JT10K0CT-ND
(http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/stackpole-
2 10K R1, R2 Digikey
electronics-inc/CF14JT10K0/CF14JT10K0CT-
ND/1830374)

CF14JT100KCT-ND
1 100K R3 Digikey
electronics-inc/CF14JT100K/CF14JT100KCT-
ND/1830399)
CF14JT4K70CT-ND
1 4.7K R4 Digikey
ND/1830366)
CF14JT47K0CT-ND
1 47K R5 Digikey
ND/1830391)
P160KN2-0EC15B1MEG
1 1M Potentiometer R6 Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?
R=0virtualkey0virtualkeyP160KN2-0EC15B1MEG)
CF14JT1K00CT-ND
1 1K R7 Digikey
ND/1830350)
P160KN-0QC15B100K
1 100K Potentiometer R8 Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?
qs=%252bUYXD5bnyXqkOkKBeOUZcQ%3d%3d)
493-13464-1-ND
1 100uF C1 Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=493-
13464-1-ND)
399-9858-1-ND (http://www.digikey.com/product-
1 0.01uF C2 Digikey detail/en/kemet/C315C103K5R5TA7303/399-9858-
1-ND/3726184)
BC2665CT-ND
1 0.1uF C3 Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/products/en?
keywords=BC2665CT-ND)
493-12572-1-ND
2 22uF C4, C5 Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=493-
12572-1-ND)
1N4001-TPMSCT-ND
(http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/micro-
2 1N4001 D1, D2 Digikey
commercial-co/1N4001-TP/1N4001-TPMSCT-
ND/773688)
1N34A BK-ND (http://www.digikey.com/products/en?
2 1N34A D3, D4 Digikey
keywords=1N34A%20BK-ND)
42TL013-RC
1 42TL013 T1 Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?
R=0virtualkey0virtualkey42TL013-RC)

296-7188-5-ND
1 TL071 IC1 Digikey (http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=296-
7188-5-ND)
SF12020F-0202-20R-L-051
(http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?
1 DPDT pushbutton SW1 Mouser
R=0virtualkey0virtualkeySF12020F-0202-20R-L-
051)
502-12B
1 1/4 stereo J1 Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?
qs=MW%252b0w7tSdpnfUMFNVQN7xQ%3d%3d)
502-12A
1 1/4 mono J2 Mouser (http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?
qs=MW%252b0w7tSdpmSP2I1pnOi8w%3d%3d)
36-232-ND (http://www.digikey.com/product-
1 9V battery B1 Digikey detail/en/keystone-electronics/232/36-232-
ND/303804)

Setup Eagle CAD
Once we have our schematic and BOM sorted out, the next order of business is to setup Eagle CAD.
Launch the software. First it will ask you to login using your Autodesk ID and then it will launch the Control
Panel.
Expand the Projects folder list on the left-hand menu, and then select the Eagle folder.
Next, either select (File > New > Project) from the top drop-down menu or right-click on the folder and
select "new project" to create a new Eagle project. Name the project after the circuit you are making, and
hit enter on the keyboard.
Our digital schematic and PCB design will live within this project. However, before we can access those,
we need to create them.
To begin we will create just the schematic. The board file will be created later, once we have the schematic
nailed down.
To create the schematic, select the project you have just created and then select (File > New >
Schematic) from the top drown-down menu. Alternately, you can right-click on the project and select the
same. A new schematic window should load.
Save this window by selecting (File > Save) or pressing command+S to load the save menu. Name the
schematic whatever you want (like "Flying Monkey Zebra"), but I find it helpful to call is something intuitive
like "[name of project] schematic"

The Eagle Interface
Eagle is a complex software package intended for creating complex circuit boards for mass production. By
contrast, we will be using it to create a rather simple circuit board for personal use. Thus, when you look at
the interface you will notice there are a lot more options and buttons than we will actually be using in our
first design.
You may not easily understand (and may never fully understand) the Eagle interface and, to be truthful, is
not always intuitive to use. However, patience is key. Don't lose heart or become intimidated by the
interface. Once you get the hang of it, creating a simple board is — well — simple. You can always learn
additional features later as your skill progresses. The core features that we will be using will be introduced
throughout this class as needed, and don't require any sort of advanced degree.

Creating a Digital Schematic
Before we can create a board, we want to recreate our schematic within Eagle. This will allow us to easily
convert it into a PCB and helps to make sure all of the parts and connections are made correctly. This may
seem like extra work, but will make life dramatically easier in the long-run.
In theory, you could have skipped the paper step and gone straight to this step, but I find having a paper
copy is useful for two reasons. First off, having a definitive hard copy is nice simply for record-keeping. I
recently rediscovered a circuit board I made for a custom guitar pedal almost 10 years ago, and had no
clue what the circuit was or what value components I needed. The digital files were lost to time, and even if
they weren't, the file formats I used at the time are surely obsolete. However, I am still able to quickly and
easily find the paper schematic and B.O.M. in my project archive. Now would also be a good time to start a
project archive if you don't have one.
The other reason I like to first make paper copies is that they will include all of the components even if they
are not attached directly to the circuit board (in my case, the DPDT switch). On occasion, the digital
version might omit it, as parts not directly attached to the PCB are not always necessary to include in the
schematic (this will make more sense in a little bit).

If you look at your schematic window, you will notice it is blank. This is because we have not placed
anything there yet. Let's fix this.
To begin, click the button on the left-hand side that looks like a plug with a Swiss flag over it, and says
"add" when you mouse over it. This will load a window of all of the stock Eagle components.
In the search box type in "Frame." This should load a list of possible decorative frames for your schematic.
I recommend selecting an A3-sized (standard printer paper) frame, but pick whichever you think will work
best for your schematic and select "OK."
Click anywhere within the blank window to place the work frame. Then, exit out of 'add component' mode
by hitting the escape key (esc) twice on your keyboard.
You have just placed a work frame for your schematic. You can view it by selecting the magnifying glass
with a thick rectangle within in it on the top of the schematic window. This will "zoom to fit" to your work
area.
As you may have guessed, adding a frame is not entirely necessary, but it helps keep things organized
and pretty. Also, the versioning information on the bottom right-hand corner of the frame should auto-
update as you save your work, which is a nice touch.
To observe this in action, save your schematic by selecting (File > Save) from the top menu or pressing
command+S. I recommend saving your work often throughout this process.

Add Symbols
Now is time to add all of the rest of your component's symbols to the schematic. Grab your B.O.M. and
let's get to work.
Just like you did with the frame, select the "add part" tool, find your parts, and then place them into your
schematic.
To begin, let's try something easy. Let's search for "op amp" and find the TL071 op amp that we are using
in the schematic.
Notice that the part has a drop down arrow. What this means is that the part has multiple packages
(surface mount and through-hole) and also has different footprints to choose from. You need to select the
footprint for the board you will be using. If you select the surface mount footprint for a through-hole part,
you will not be able to assemble your board correctly.
You can tell the difference between a surface mount and through hole part because surface mount will
have an abbreviation which starts with "S" and through-hole will have an abbreviation which starts with
"D." Aside from the obvious naming conventions, surface mount parts will have pads without holes in the
center because the pins are mounted to the surface, and through hole parts have pads with holes in the
center because the pins are passed through. It's actually fairly intuitive.
If you look for a resistor, you may be overwhelmed by about a billion different resistor options. Knowing
which one to select can be tricky. It's simply a matter of finding the right footprint. Your part supplier should
have it's package listed on the product page, which, in turn, should indicate the best footprint to select.
Often it is also important to consider the listed measurements (in mm) of the component in relation to the
package.
For instance, if we were to look up a 10K resistor (http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/stackpole-

electronics-inc/CF14JT10K0/CF14JT10K0CT-ND/1830374) we will find that it has an "axial" package. This
lets us know it is through-hole, but it still does not tell us the exact footprint we need since axial resistors
come in a wide range of sizes. Fortunately, they also let us know the dimensions are 2.3mm x 6mm. From
this information we can determine that we need a resistor package with at least 7.5mm spacing between
leads (since bending the leads for through-hole mounting requires some additional width). However, to be
on the conservative side, I decided go with 10mm spacing between leads.
When the software states "grid 10mm" under the part attributes for this through-hole resistor footprint, it
indicates that we have found a resistor package with a 10mm lead spacing and ultimately what we are
looking for.

Alternately, this is also where calipers can come in handy. Instead of looking up the lead spacing, we can
simply measure the lead spacing and use this measurement to figure out what part footprint to select.
Calipers can also be used to double-check that the measurements given online are correct if something
seems fishy.
Sometimes you won't find exactly what you are looking for. In those instances, you can find a similar part
with an identical footprint. For instance, I could not find a 1N34A germanium diode, but it has a DO-07
footprint. Instead I am going to use an AA112 germanium diode which also has a DO-07 footprint.
For our purposes, this should be good enough. It will show up on the board as a diode with the correct
footprint, and for what we are currently doing, that is all that really matters. If you were going to get deep
into Eagle and start running circuit simulations, this might make a difference. However, that is well beyond
the scope of this class and our goals.
If you really cannot find anything close to resembling your part, hope is not yet lost. Some manufacturers
and part distributors will provide an Eagle parts library for their inventory. A good place to start to look for
those is the Element14 Eagle CAD library
(https://www.element14.com/community/community/cadsoft_eagle/eagle_cad_libraries) page. Alternately,
you can try googling for a library as well. If that fails, you can always create a new custom part
(https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-custom-library-part-in-Eagle-CAD-too/).
To add the library go to (Library > Use...) on the top menu bar. Navigate to and select the library you
downloaded and click "open." It will appear nothing happened, but when you now go to add a new part,
your new library will be included.
Finally, we need to figure out which components from the schematic don't get mounted directly to the
circuit board. In my circuit these parts include the potentiometers, audio jacks, battery snap, and bypass
switch. In fact, some of these parts get wired directly and may not have connections to the board at all.
What I need to figure out is precisely what input and output points the board needs. After some thought I
concluded I need an audio input and audio output, a connection for the drive potentiometer, and a power
connection. To create these terminals, I am going to use the single "pin headers" from the Adafruit library
(https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Eagle-Library/blob/master/adafruit.lbr) I just downloaded.
Note that there are other "pin headers" I could have used already included with the software, but I just
wanted to demonstrate adding a component from the new library.

Draw Connections
Once all the symbols are placed, we need to arrange them, name them, and draw the appropriate wire
connections.

Select the move tool from the left-hand toolbar (it looks like a compass with four arrows), and click on the
symbols to drag them into place. Arrange them on the screen to roughly match the layout of the hand-
drawn schematic.

You may notice that sometimes when you click and drag on the symbol it does not go anywhere. This
might be frustrating to you, and you might think the software is broken. It isn't that you are doing something
wrong. You can only ever select and perform an action upon a symbol when the cross-hair from the tool
overlaps the cross-hair on the symbol. Sometimes the cross-hair on the part might be hidden under a
symbol or in a corner, making the whole endeavor kind of frustrating.
When appropriate, you can easily rotate the symbols by selecting the rotate tool and then simply clicking
on the symbol you want to turn. With each click they will rotate 90 degrees.

The symbols should already have names, but these names may not correlate to the ones already assigned
on our paper schematic and B.O.M. Thus, we want to use the Name tool on the left-hand toolbar to
reassign the names of the components as appropriate. These names will transfer over to the PCB when
we generate it, so it is important that we get them right.

Next we are going to assign values to each symbol using the value tool from the left-hand toolbar.
Whereas the symbols have names which specify what sort of part they are, the value designation lets us
know what the part actually is. For instance, we can specify whether the resistor R2 is 100 ohm or 10K
ohm (as is the case). It should go without saying why assigning values to the symbols is as equally as
important as giving them each unique names.
Many of the schematic symbols look the same, even if they have dramatically different footprints. This is
particularly true of the capacitors in my schematic. I am going to confirm that each schematic symbol
correlates to the proper component by using the info tool from the left-hand toolbar to double check its
footprint is correct.
In my case the footprint of the component matches my part perfectly, but if the footprint were not matched
to the component, I would then check what other capacitor was incorrect and simply reassign the
components that were mislabeled.
Once all of the symbols are arranged and labeled correctly, now it's time to connect them together. To do
this we will use the NET tool to create connections between the symbols. All of the connections we make
match our hand drawn schematic, with the exception of the components that we have determined do not
mount directly to the board. In these cases, we just need to make sure the appropriate pin headers get
connected to the appropriate spots.

Often connections will overlap one another without actually connecting. You can tell the difference
between a connection and an overlap by the presence of a green dot. For instance, both diodes connect
together with the output pin header because all three lines converge at the green dot. However, pins 1 and
2 do not connect together because there is no dot even though they intersect.
Sometimes you might make a connection which looks okay on first glance, but is not a connection at all.
You can see an example of a bad connection here on pin 3. The long darker green overlapped section
indicated that there isn't actually a connection there. An actual connection should look like the small green
dot on pin 2.
To fix this, you need to delete the green line by selecting the Delete tool from the left-hand toolbar. This is
easy to find because it looks like a little garbage can. Once the tool is selected, click on the line to delete it,
and then you can go back and redraw the line with the NET tool.

When you have a lot of symbols connecting with one another, your circuit can get confusing very quickly.
An easy way to tell if a connection is good is by moving the symbol you are unsure about and observing to
see if the connections get dragged along with it. If they all appear to move around with the symbol, the
connections are reliable.
Finally, once all of the connections are made and you have meticulously double-checked your work to
make sure that it matches your hand drawn schematic, you are finally ready to make a circuit board.
Now would be a good time to get up, stretch your legs, eat a sandwich, or — if you are gluten free — have
some rice pasta. If you are feeling particularly inspired, maybe even go for a walk. You need to reset your
brain for the next lesson, and some exercise wouldn't kill you.

LESSON 3: LAYING OUT THE BOARD
Once you have your schematic drawn out in Eagle, it is finally time to lay out the circuit board. This may
seem like it's going to be very complicated, but it is actually not that bad. The process is fairly
straightforward. It is just a matter of taking your time and carefully thinking through what you are doing. By
the end of this lesson, you should have a circuit board that is ready for production.

Convert the Schematic
Now is the moment of truth in which we convert our schematic to a board layout. To do this, all you need to
do is click the "Generate/Switch to board" button on the top menu bar. This will open a dialogue box asking
you if you want to "Create from schematic?" The answer is unequivocally "Yes."
A new window should load with a mess of components sitting next to a blank circuit board rectangle. Save
this new window. It will become your circuit board.

Arrange the Components
Once the board file is generated, it is time to arrange the components' footprints on the board. The idea is
to keep the distance between the different footprints as short as possible. On one hand, it is good to
avoiding placing the components so close that they are on top of one another because it will make it more
difficult to assemble later. On the other hand, the larger the board is, the more it will cost to manufacture.
You should be starting off with a jumbled mess of components and airwires. These are thin "rubber band"
lines which indicates two points that require a circuit connection be drawn between them. When you move
the parts around, these lines stretch or contract like rubber bands.
This jumble also has a name. It is called a ratsnest. I am honestly not 100% certain why it has such an
unpleasant name, but I suspect it has something to do with looking like a nest a rat would (or something
unequally unpleasant) would make. At the very least, someone was having a bad day when they decided
to call it that.
Our first order of business is to use the move tool to place the footprints spread out upon the board. You
need to place the footprints within the frame of the board or the software will give you a really annoying
pop-up telling you that you cannot place a component there.
To begin with, don't worry about placing them in the correct position. Just get them spread out and take
inventory. Once you have a grasp on what goes where, then you can begin positioning them on the board.
The goal in placing the footprints is to try to keep airwires from twisting, overlapping, or traveling great
distances. The easiest way to do this is to place components which get wired directly together next to each
other.
However, you are eventually going to get to a point that no matter what you do, you have a mess of
twisting and overlapping airwires. In fact, you may look at your airwires and think many of the connections
don't even make sense and should be drawn differently.
Fortunately, there is a secret weapon for redrawing the airwires and cleaning up your connections. You
simply press the "Ratsnest" button on the bottom of the left-hand toolbar (the button that looks like a
wooden molecule model). When you press this you will be delighted to discover that the airwaves get
redrawn with more direct paths. This will allow you to continue to move the components around, and
simplify the circuit connections even further.
Once you start to have a grasp of part placement, move the circuit towards the bottom left-hand corner of
the board. Then, adjust the board outline to fit your circuit (typically shrinking it) by clicking and dragging on
it using the move tool. However, don't move the bottom left-hand corner of the board. This corner is
currently on the (0,0) position and this will be useful later in easily determining the board size.
Continue compacting the board until the components are packed in fairly tight.
I can probably compress the parts in this example even tighter, but I think keeping them a little bit spread
out will make it easier to route traces.

A Note About Layers
Layers are different work planes upon which your PCB is drawn. For instance, all of the copper traces on
the bottom of the board will be on one layer, and all of the part names that are silkscreened onto the top of
the board will be on another layer. Yet another layer will have the board's cut outline. In short, the different
layers will indicate to the manufacturer to route, drill, or print upon the board. It provides a blueprint to let
them know exactly how to produce the board.
It is therefore important that you place the correct information on the correct layer. Fortunately, layers are
fairly consistent from one PCB to the next, and they are relatively easy to tell apart because they are
displayed in different colors. By default you are viewing about two dozen different layers.
You can view all of the layers currently in play by going to the layer menu, which can be found by clicking
the "Layer Settings..." button on the left-hand toolbar (which looks like 3 stacked squares) or by selecting
(View > Layer Settings...) from the top menu bar.
All of the layers highlighted in blue are active. You can activate or deactivate any layer by clicking on it,
and then selecting "apply." Before you go messing around with this make sure you know darned well what
you are doing, or at least keep track of any changes you make so that they can be undone. Typically you
would not want to toggle off any of the default layers on a permanent basis. This can lead to unexpected
results later.
I'm not going to go over every layer, but I will discuss the few we are working with as they are introduced.
Here is a full breakdown (http://www.lucidarme.me/?p=2363) of PCB layers within Eagle should you be
curious.

Creating Traces
Creating traces is one of the easiest and perhaps — at times — most frustrating parts of creating a circuit
board. If you love puzzles, you will be in heaven. If you don't love puzzles, I apologize in advance. Hang in
there.
The goal is to connect all of the components together properly (using the airwires as guides) without any of
the traces touching or intersecting. The rules are easy enough, but the game can get maddening as more
and more traces are placed. You will quickly understand why we paid such careful attention to where our
parts were initially placed and preventing airwires from intersecting.
To create your first trace select the "Route" tool on the left-hand side tool menu. It is the one which looks
like a blue squiggle with green dots on the end. You will notice that when you select it you get a new
toolbar on the top of the window. These new settings are important to be mindful of.
Let's look at the left-hand side of the tool-bar. The first thing you will see is a layer drop-down menu. We

are going to select layer "16 Bottom" to begin. It doesn't particularly matter if you draw traces on the top or
bottom of the board, but for argument's sake, let's draw them on the bottom.
Next to the drop-down menu, you will see a series of squiggles. These indicate different ways in which
lines can be drawn between points. We'll come back to these in one moment, but first, I want to point out
the "Width" drop-down menu. This specifies the width of the copper trace you are creating on the board. I
keep mine set at a width of 0.016 which is more than enough for any low-current application. If your traces
are going to be carrying high current (such as an amp or more), you will want to use a trace width
calculator (http://www.4pcb.com/trace-width-calculator.html) to make sure your traces are large enough to
handle it.
Anyhow, the different squiggles at the top allow you to draw different angled lines. The curves that have
right angles are good for drawing traces which are straight lines or connections which meet at a right
angles. The ones which are diagonals are used for drawing diagonals. The curved lines are good at
drawing — you guessed it! — curved lines. For the most part, this isn't rocket science.
The two colored squiggles, however, require our special attention. These are the "follow-me" paths and
allow us to auto-route traces between two points that are connected by airwires. By clicking on the starting
location and moving the pointer around, you can slightly adjust the shape and location of these routes. I
prefer to use the option on the right-hand side which tries to figure out the best path "from both sides."
This tool is extremely useful for complex paths that swerve around other parts and traces. It is also useful
for routing paths that require vias.
A via is a tiny electroplated hole which passes electricity from one side of the board to the other. The
reason you may want a via is to bypass obstacles and keep your connections short. For instance, the red
line is a trace on the top side of the board and is therefore able to cross over all of the blue connections on
the bottom side of the board. Once it bypasses them, it connects to a via that sends it back through to the
bottom and allows it to continue along its merry way towards the chip.
Vias are useful because aside from allowing us to bypass obstacles, they help keep traces as short as
possible. This aids in keeping the board compact.
Even though they are useful, vias should be used only when necessary. For the sake of simplicity, it is best
to try to keep all of your traces on one plane and not have too many vias to keep track of.
On the right-hand side of the Route toolbar are all of the via-specific settings. I typically leave these
settings at their defaults. I advise against decreasing the drill size because this will likely increase
production cost later. It is also advisable not to increase the drill size because people might confuse these
for through-hole connections and try soldering to them.

If for some reason you mess up and need to remove some traces, you can use the "Ripup" tool. In the
above image I'm removing all of the ground connections that I had previously drawn because I have new
plans for connecting all of the ground connections to the circuit.
Thanks to some creative routing, it turns out I didn't need to use the via after all, and was able to keep all of
my traces to the bottom side of the board. The board now is mostly done. Notice that the only airwires not
connected are the ground wires. This is on purpose. Rather than figure out how to route all of these wires,
I'm instead going to add a ground plane.

Ground Plane
A ground plane is a large copper area covering most of the unused section of the board. The purpose of a
ground plane is to reduce noise and interference between components in the circuit. The ground plane also
allows us to make ground connections without routing them between pins, which makes life much easier.
You might also note that it makes the board look real cool-looking.
However, before I add a ground plane, I'm going to take one last pass at making the board smaller.
Components on a PCB can go fairly close to the edge. I want to get rid of any unused space because
every few millimeters shaved from the dimension of the board cuts down the production cost.

To move everything at once, I use the "Group" tool to drag and highlight everything within the boundaries
of the PCB. This is the tool on the left-hand toolbar which looks like a dotted box with a pointer arrow.
Once everything is selected, I simply grab any part by its center cross-hair, and drag the whole selection to
the bottom left-hand corner.
Next, I use the info tool to specify the new dimensions of the board.
Once the size of the board is finalized, it is time to add a ground plane. It may seem complicated, but it
fairly easy to do.

Select the "Polygon" tool which looks like a rectangle with a bite out of the top corner from the left-hand
toolbar. In the top toolbar make sure the layers is set to "16 Bottom" and then change the isolate setting to
0.012. This number means that there will be 0.012" of space between the all of the copper connections and
the ground plane.
Trace the outline of the board with the polygon tool. When complete, you will see a dotted line form around
the outside of the board.
Rename this dotted outline "GROUND" using the Name tool.
Finally, click the Ratsnest tool to draw in the ground plane.

Now is the moment of truth. We are going to connect the ground plane to all of the circuit's ground pins.
Click on any of the ground airwires using the Name tool. Something akin to "N$2" should show up as its
name. Delete this and rename the pin "GROUND."
All of the pins connected to the "GROUND" airwires should now be connected to the "GROUND" plane.
Zoom in and review these pins to confirm there are little blue lines connecting them to the ground plane. It's
a bit like magic.
Picture of Finishing Touch

Finishing Touch
Now is time to leave your mark on the board by customizing the silkscreen layer (layer 21 - tPlace)
assuming there is enough free space left on the top of the board to do so.
The easiest thing to do is simply to use the text draw tool (which looks like an uppercase T) to write the
name of the board. However, you can try drawing an image with some of the other shape tools on the
silkscreen layer (layer 21 - tPlace) if you are feeling particularly inspired.
Your board is now ready to be prepared for manufacturing.

LESSON 4: MANUFACTURING
As soon as the design is complete, your board is ready to be printed. While there are instructions online for
creating your own board, I recommend that your first one be professionally manufactured. In this lesson we
will go over generating gerber files for manufacturing, reviewing your gerber files, and then a little bit about
selecting a manufacturer.

Measure Twice, Manufacture Once
Before I generate the production files, I want run two separate checks to validate the board.
The first check is to look for missing airwires and certify there are no connections missing between
components. To accomplish this we once again simply press the magic ratsnests button. It should return
"Nothing to do!" This indicates to us all of the airwires have been connected.
The second check is to look out for any glaring design errors. On the bottom of the left-hand toolbar we
need to select the DRC button (Design Rule Check) which is basically just a button with the initials DRC
with a check mark. Once selected, a new window should open. Click on the "Load" button and select
"default.dru," and press "Open." You will then be redirected back to the original window where you simply
press "Check." If all goes well, the phrase "DRC: No errors." will load at the bottom of your design window.
If all does not go well, the "DRC Errors" window will load with a list of errors. By clicking on each itemized
error is will give an explanation what is wrong, and highlight on the board where the error is occurring. It is
imperative that all of the errors are resolved before proceeding. Typically I don't use the check process in
the error window itself. Instead, I exit out, make the necessary changes that it has indicated, and just run
the DRC again (until the errors don't appear).
Generating Gerbers
In an ideal world, we would be able to just send the Eagle files to the manufacturer and be done with it.
However, Eagle is just one PCB design software package in a universe of design software packages. As
well, Eagle has so many different layers that a manufacturer might not be sure which layers you meant to
include and which ones you did not.
For both of these reasons, we need to generate a special type of CAM file called gerbers. Gerber files are
basically the universal format for circuit board production. Regardless of what piece of software you used
to generate the board, the gerber files are always going to follow the same format. Thus, when a
manufacturer receives these files, they know exactly what needs to happen.
In the olden days (2016 or earlier), you used to have to open Eagle's native CAM processor and go
through an elaborate rigamarole to generate gerber files. You still can do this (http://www.build-electronic-
circuits.com/gerber-file/) if you want, but I don't recommend it.
Eagle's new process for creating gerber files is much more simple, and the one I will be using. It basically

involves uploading the board to Autodesk Circuits (https://circuits.io/), which is Autodesk's online hub for all
things electronics. By uploading your board file here, all of the appropriate gerber files will be automatically
generated.
To upload your files to Autodesk Circuits (https://circuits.io/), press the "Make' button on the right-hand side
of the top menu bar. After that, just follow the prompts that pop up to upload your board file and log into the
circuits.io site. This will redirect you away from Eagle and to a web page on your default web browser
where your file has just been uploaded.
Once logged into Autodesk Circuits, you will be presented with your circuit board in a viewing window.
First, look at the top and the bottom of the board and see if they appear correctly. If you have done
everything right, this should be no problem. Otherwise, go back to Eagle, make the necessary changes to
your board, and re-upload it.

Reviewing the Files
After the quick visual check, you will want to look at the gerber files themselves. To do this, click on the
"layer stack" button in the top right-hand side of the window to switch views.
You should see a list on the left-hand side with the following files:
Layer Description
A composite rendering of all of the layers on the top of the board. This layer has no
Top View
equivalent gerber file and is unique to Autodesk Circuits.
Top Silkscreen The top silkscreen layer for the circuit board as it appears.
The copper layer as it appears on the top of the board. This layer does not account for drill
Top Copper
holes.
The soldermask layer displays the inverse of where the soldermask appears. In other words,
Top Soldermask
where there is black displayed, there will be no solder mask.
A composite rendering of all layers on the bottom of the board. This layer has no equivalent
Bottom View
gerber file and is unique to Autodesk Circuits.
Bottom Silkscreen The bottom silkscreen layer for the circuit as it appears. This layer is typically not used.
The copper layer as it appears on the bottom of the board. Like the top copper layer, this one
Bottom Copper
also does not account for drill holes.
Bottom Soldermask This is the soldermask layer on the bottom of the board. It too returns an inverse display.
Drills Indicates all of the holes to be drilled through the board.
Toggle through the gerber files and make sure there is information there, and everything looks about right.
The drill file should have guides for drilling. The silkscreen file should have everything that needs to be
silkscreened. The other files should have whatever the other files are supposed to have. If they don't, you
need to go back, figure out what went wrong during the setup process, and create new files.
When you are sure they all look correct, scroll down the page and click the big "Download Gerber" button
to download the zip file to your computer. This file is what you will be providing to the manufacturer.
If you want to take a look at my files, you can find them on the Octave Up Pedal Instructable
(https://www.instructables.com/id/Octave-Up-Pedal/#step3).

Selecting a Manufacturer
There are so many different PCB manufacturers to choose from, and there are pros and cons to them all.
Selecting one can be a daunting task the first time you are having a board made. This is especially true
since there is no one thing that would make one stand out above the rest, and most manufacturers provide
roughly the same services.
You need to weigh many different factors including cost, turnaround time, scale of order, ease of
interaction, and added features such as as fun-colored boards, flexible PCBs, or certified lead-free
production.
To give some hypothetical real world examples, one manufacturer might be really cheap because they
batch your jobs together with dozens of other jobs and produce them all at once. However, they have no
real board options to choose from. Additionally, they only do this once a week, and they also use the
cheapest possible shipping, which makes turnaround times very slow.
Another manufacturer might cost a lot more, but they can get you a board in 3 days. However, they are set
up exclusively for low-volume production with fast turnaround times and can't cheaply produce hundreds of
boards.
A third manufacturer might produce thousands of boards cheaply and have fast shipping, but they might
not speak the same language as you and ordering is challenging.
In short, you need to weigh the various considerations and decide what is important to you.

Often, word of mouth is the best way to find a PCB manufacturer. Ask your friends who they have used to
have their PCBs made. If your friends don't make PCBs, or you have no friends, Adafruit
(https://www.adafruit.com/) has created a list of popular manufacturers
(http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/manufacturers.html) and explain some of the pros and cons of each.
Lately, I have been having my boards produced by PCBWay (https://www.pcbway.com/). I find their prices,
quality, and turnaround times to be reasonable at the small scale at which I am working. I should note that I
am in no way affiliated with their business, I just personally choose to use them.
Ultimately you just need to pick the manufacturer which looks like it might work best for you.
Another thing to keep in mind when working with low-volume production is the cost to make one might be
roughly as much or the same as the cost to make ten. A lot of the initial charge is setup fee, and producing
addition boards might be possible at little to no cost.
In my opinion you should always order more than one in case one is corrupted, you assemble it wrong, or
there is a design flaw and that you need to debug. Five is a fairly safe number and not too excessive.
Wait
After your board is submitted to the manufacturer and you have paid them a bunch of money, the only real
thing left to do is wait. I do not recommend compulsively checking the mailbox, or online tracking
information. Worrying about whether or not your board has errors is also not helpful. It is best to forget
about all of this for a while and find something else to do.

LESSON 5: ASSEMBLING THE BOARD
The board has finally arrived! Hooray!
Now is time to assemble it. It is not until you actually begin to assemble the board that you can tell whether
or not you designed it correctly. In theory, everything should be perfect and this should be the easiest part
of the process.
However, chances are that for the first board you designed, you will likely encounter a mistake or two. If
this is the case, don't fret. This happens to everyone sooner or later. So, let's start to put the board together
and see how you did.

Assemble the Board
It is best to start with the parts that sit closest to the surface of the board, and work your way up. For
instance, I install the resistors, diodes and ICs first. I then install the taller components like the capacitors
and transformer last.
Assembling the board this way helps keep parts flush to the board when installing them as the weight of
the board is holding the part down. If the part is not well sandwiched between the board and the work
surface, it may end up dangling by its leads above the surface of the board.
The final components I attach are those that are external to the board itself. Obviously, not all circuit
boards have parts external to it, but many do.
Power it up and see if it works. If it works, great! You are basically done.
If it does not work, keep reading.

In an ideal world, everything about your board would be perfect the first time around. However, there is the
chance that no matter how much you checked and double-checked your work, something is wrong. In my
case, the first board I made had an incorrect footprint for the transformer.
With some modifications to the transformer I was able to make this work. I just bent the mounting pins
back, and jammed the leads through and I was able to make it work.
I ultimately decided to fix this footprint issue in the Eagle design software, and pay to have a second
version manufactured.
Fortunately, the footprint issue was my only error. However, there are others you might encounter.

Another common problem is the board simply not working at all. The first step to resolving is to visually
inspect the board and determine you have installed the correct components and all of your solder joints are
good.
Assuming this all checks out, visually inspect the traces to ensure they are all routed correctly. If
everything seems correct, this is where having additional boards comes in useful.
On an empty circuit board, test the connections for continuity with a multimeter to see if they are
connected. You should definitely also check any vias for continuity to make sure they are actually passing
the signal through the board from side to side. Often shoddy vias can be the source of errors.
If nothing at all seems to be wrong, perhaps the first board is simply corrupted or has a corrupted
component. Construct the second board and see if it works. If it does, you are good to go. If not, you likely
got a bad batch of a particular component or are somehow damaging something during fabrication.
Debugging corrupted components is well outside the scope of this class. Instead, I recommend when
constructing future boards, lower the heat on your soldering iron, use proper anti-static part handling
techniques (such as a grounding strap), and procure a new batch of components.
The other problem you may encounter is that the board mostly works but is doing something unexpected.
In this case, it is time to go back to the breadboard, compare it to the board, and really consider what is
happening in the circuit.

One Last Thing...
One unexpected thing that you might find is that the circuit on the PCB works better than the circuit on the
breadboard. This is typically because there is less noise in the circuit on account of the shorter connections
and a ground plane. In my case, the guitar pedal I am building sounds much better on the circuit board
than it did on the breadboard.
If this is the case for you, think of it as a gift.
To complete this class, post a picture of the PCB you made in the comments below.
If you post an Instructable (https://www.instructables.com/editInstructable/new) using your circuit board

and it gets featured (https://www.instructables.com/community/Featuring-Checklist/), I will also add it to the
list of example projects for this class.

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CIRCUIT BOARD DESIGN CLASS

5 Lessons Beginner Level

Circuit Board Design Class: Page 1

Lesson 1: PCB Concepts and Materials

Lesson 2: Preparing a Schematic

Lesson 3: Laying Out the Board

Lesson 5: Assembling the Board

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To design a PCB we will be using Autodesk Eagle (https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/free-

You can download Eagle (https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/free-download?

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A fine tip marker (optional)

Digital calipers (optional, but recommended)

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For my schematic, the B.O.M. is as follows:

Quantity Value Name Supplier Part Number

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For instance, if we were to look up a 10K resistor (http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/stackpole-

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Rename this dotted outline "GROUND" using the Name tool.

Finally, click the Ratsnest tool to draw in the ground plane.

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Your board is now ready to be prepared for manufacturing.

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The board has finally arrived! Hooray!

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If it does not work, keep reading.

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