This is a 2 layer board I designed in Altium Designer. I wanted to see if any expert PCB designers can leave some feedback or advice for my PCB.

My PCB is a slot machine powered by an Arduino Nano. The displays are not going to be soldered directly to the board so I can change it if any of the displays break.

I know there are many vias in the board, but I figured since I only have two layers I would have the power and signal traces on the top layer and the ground plane on the bottom layer. When I would require a jump I would create the smallest jump on the bottom layer to keep the power and signal on the top layer. This method might not makes sense on such a simple board like this or would it make more sense to route the signal on the bottom as well to get rid of the vias.

 

One suggestion – put mounting holes in the corners. An easy way I add mounting holes with enough clearance for nuts and spacers is described here: Jon's Imaginarium – PCB Design Tip: Ensuring Mounting Hole Clearance. An outline of a 4-40 or 3mm nut (essentially the same size) and a circle showing clearance for a nut driver is shown in the documentation layer, with a 3.2mm hole for 4-40 or 3mm hardware. The nut and circle in the documentation layer are a guide for clearance and keeping traces out of the area where a nut might short them out.

With a little searching, you should be able to locate these patterns in the EasyEDA user library under my name.

 

Sorry, don't know what happened to the formating of the above, and I can't edit it! Let me try again.

Nice looking board. Some minor suggestions:

1. Mark pin 1 of the micro

2. Mark the polarity of the electrolytic caps.

3. Where you have a via "jumper" and then a short trace to a through-hole pin, eliminate one via and just run the short trace on the bottom of the board. I believe there's a clearance issue with the via pair at the upper left corner – there's a red x if you look closely.

4. In general, where you have via "jumpers", spread them out a little to give more clearance to the track you're crossing.

 

hi Jon,
What extension are your images.?

Mod

 

Jpg, from my phone.

But the post with the image wasn't where the problem occurred. I was typing the second reply on my phone, when suddenly the formatting went crazy, with many blank lines between each paragraph (10+) which I couldn't edit or delete. Even trying to locked up my browser (Microsoft Edge on a Samsung Note20). I've had similar things happen on several threads here.

 

Hi Jon,
Perhaps Admin can help. @bertus

@jrap
E

 

Insofar as the design, it's pretty good - although I wouldn't have any T-joins that aren't 90 degree T's, such as the one above S5, and below S2, S4 and S6. There's also a little one to the right of VCC on the 2nd 7-segment display, and one to the left of CS of the 1st 7-segment display (one end branches to a via).

The Nano is still labelled U?, so you might want to change that.

I couldn't see any major routing options - except for DIN on the 1st 7-segment display can go around between CS and CLK, and you'll skip a via. Out of interest, are you making the board yourself, or getting it made somewhere else?

The only other minor thing is that the trace widths are a bit variable - I would expect thicker traces for the power, but DIN on the 2nd 7-segment display seems a lot thicker than the rest.

I would also second adding some mounting holes, and some tracks could be glossed, but it's not important.

Have you set up an design rules and used them to verify the design? Some PCB fabricators can supply you with them; otherwise you'll need to program them in. The vias do look a little small.