Hello Experts,

I really appreciate your unrelenting help you guys provide for to people on this forum. My question this time, I would like to know how to be able to design PCB on my own. There's no company doing here doing PCB Design, so I have to learn it be myself. I have KiCad installed already to start learning.

 

I assume you mean layout/placement of components etc?
Circuits often progress across a board similar to how they are shown on the schematic, eg. low voltage and input sections at one side, progressing to a side reserved for power devices and output etc.
There is no cut-and-dried method, it often comes down to the actual circuit function itself.
Each design virtually decides the method of layout used.

 

I assume you mean layout/placement of components etc?
Circuits often progress across a board similar to how they are shown on the schematic, eg. low voltage and input sections at one side, progressing to a side reserved for power devices and output etc.
There is no cut-and-dried method, it often comes down to the actual circuit function itself.
Each design virtually decides the method of layout used.

I am currently following a book, KiCad like a pro. But my worry is, I need to keep designing PCB after completing the book. So I need a way to keep up good standard designing a PCB. I need circuits to do their PCBs in order to improve myself.

 

Not comprehensive, but these videos are a little helpful when learning Kicad, https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/useful-links-for-learning-kicad.164953/

 

Not comprehensive, but these videos are a little helpful when learning Kicad, https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/useful-links-for-learning-kicad.164953/

Thanks but my point is not yet clear to you. I need to be doing PCB Design regularly, so I need resources that I would choose circuits from, then someone would vet my work

 

Completely aside from understanding the ways to create component and routing layouts is the ability to understand the circuit being converted to artwork well enough to understand which segments are signals, controls, and power, and how to avoid unwanted coupling.
Also, understanding the electrical properties of the signal paths is useful.
So there is another bit of insight that I recommend IN ADDITION to what others suggest, not as a substitute.

 

Well if it is just practice and experience you need, then look up simple circuits posted on the web, go through the design process then offer them for critique, etc,
There are plenty out there, starting with simple single IC designs, to more involved multi chip/device versions.
Like everything else ability comes with practice.

 

Completely aside from understanding the ways to create component and routing layouts is the ability to understand the circuit being converted to artwork well enough to understand which segments are signals, controls, and power, and how to avoid unwanted coupling.
Also, understanding the electrical properties of the signal paths is useful.
So there is another bit of insight that I recommend IN ADDITION to what others suggest, not as a substitute.

So what do I do to grasp the circuit been converted?

 

So what do I do to grasp the circuit been converted?

Before going to far in the process , you also need to have a grasp of typical circuit practice first, IOW, what is your degree of knowledge in the electronics subject in general?
The whole process is a case of progression from one part of the discipline to the next.

 

Before going to far in the process , you also need to have a grasp of typical circuit practice first, IOW, what is your degree of knowledge in the electronics subject in general?
The whole process is a case of progression from one part of the discipline to the next.

A bachelor degree in Electrical engineering. But not that handy

 

A bachelor degree in Electrical engineering. But not that handy

So you a have a degree of knowledge of the subject, now comes the practical experience,
There is no real short cut, circuit design usually involves building/bread boarding and testing of designs, even if they are just for the experience, have you done any so far?

 

So you a have a degree of knowledge of the subject, now comes the practical experience,
There is no real short cut, circuit design usually involves building/bread boarding and testing of designs, even if they are just for the experience, have you done any so far?

I can breadboard, solder, identify components and understand their values. I don't want to be a copy-cat, I want to know the "whys" in electronics design and manipulate existing circuits to my own specifications.

 

I can breadboard, solder, identify components and understand their values. I don't want to be a copy-cat, I want to know the "whys" in electronics design and manipulate existing circuits to my own specifications.

Then, move to PCB and hardware designing.

 

Then, move to PCB and hardware designing.

There is a time for copying and a time for using one's own judgement when following somebody else's design. That is when you stopo and ask "why did they do it this way?, and that is where you try a different way.

 

1. Observe the legal requirements for creepage and clearance distance between components and tracks at high voltages. This mainly applies if you have mains on your pcb.
2. Keep the analogue parts together, keep the digital parts together and keep the power parts together, and keep them separate from each other.
3. Make all tracks as short as possible (especially the tracks to decoupling capacitors).
4. Use proper connectors. If you rely on soldering wires to the board, don't forget that the wire has to be secured by a cable tie.
5. Signal tracks are thin, power tracks are thick. GND Vcc etc count as power tracks. There are tables available which tell you the width of track you need for a certain current.
6. It's not a one-way process. If it doesn't fit well, see if signals be connected to a different microcontroller pin, swap the gates or op-amps within a dual- or quad- package.

 

1. Observe the legal requirements for creepage and clearance distance between components and tracks at high voltages. This mainly applies if you have mains on your pcb.
2. Keep the analogue parts together, keep the digital parts together and keep the power parts together, and keep them separate from each other.
3. Make all tracks as short as possible (especially the tracks to decoupling capacitors).
4. Use proper connectors. If you rely on soldering wires to the board, don't forget that the wire has to be secured by a cable tie.
5. Signal tracks are thin, power tracks are thick. GND Vcc etc count as power tracks. There are tables available which tell you the width of track you need for a certain current.
6. It's not a one-way process. If it doesn't fit well, see if signals be connected to a different microcontroller pin, swap the gates or op-amps within a dual- or quad- package.

I have not seen wires anchored to a PCB with a cable tie in the past 25 years. At least not in any consumer electronics. Anchoring, if done at all, is with a dab of glue. Certainly items #2, and #5require at least some understanding of the circuit.

 

I have not seen wires anchored to a PCB with a cable tie in the past 25 years. At least not in any consumer electronics. Anchoring, if done at all, is with a dab of glue. Certainly items #2, and #5require at least some understanding of the circuit.

The British and European Standards based say “secured” but don’t specify how. I favoured the cable tie, because it is quicker than waiting for glue to set, or feeding the cable up and down through several holes in the board, which is another popular method.

 

I my opinion, you need to understand electronics and design electronics projects that then need to be built on their own PCBs. You almost need to know how a circuit functions before you can lay it out, as has already been pointed out. Having a bachelor's degree in electronics gives you an understanding of electronics principles, components and some systems and you end up designing simple projects and analysing them, a fairly limited starting skill nonetheless important. But you need the passion to design and build things and that gives you the experience necessary. I have done that since 12 years old and foresee doing it until I either can't see well enough or my hands are too shaky. Along the way, in the early years found out through trial & error and reading why certain designs or layouts work better than others etc, why RF layouts are so strange and why high-speed tracks are laid the way they are.

 

The British and European Standards based say “secured” but don’t specify how. I favoured the cable tie, because it is quicker than waiting for glue to set, or feeding the cable up and down through several holes in the board, which is another popular method.

This is how I do it. Very secure.

 

At some point, you just have to jump in and do it. There's no better teacher than experience. You'll screw some things up, figure out why, fix it and continue. Regarding software, check out Altium; Altium Designer is super common these days, the last 3 places I've worked have all switched to Altium Designer. The Designer package is too expensive for a private person to buy, but check out Altium Circuitmaker (Free) and Altium Circuit Studio (cheaper than Designer). The learning curve can be a little vertical at first, but there are lots of help videos and articles online.