How to Make a Circuit Board

Intro: How to Make a Circuit Board

This is a tutorial on how to make custom circuit boards that are cheap and easy to make no expensive equipment required for this project.

STEP 1: Recourses

First you need to acquire software for the design.

Fritzing is a 100% free PCB design program for Mac and Windows: http://fritzing.org/download/

You will also need double sided copper board: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-One-Side-Copper-Clad...

Tools:

Stanley knife

You will also need a printer

STEP 2: Designing Your Board

Once you have downloaded the software you will be ready to design your board.

Open the software and click on the breadboard tab at the top of the screen, Then you can design it, add Arduino or keep it simple. For this tutorial I will make a simple LED that turns on when you click a button. Simply put your components on.

STEP 3: Schematic View

Once that is done click on the schematic view tab at the top of the screen and clean up your circuit.

STEP 4: PCB View

Once you have cleaned it up in schematic view you can click on PCB in the tab and fix it up.

Next click on the Autoroute button at the bottom. It will give the route

There are now two things you can do, either click the fabricate button and buy what you have made or make your own.

STEP 5: Making Your Own

Once you have down you PCB you need to click the export for PCB button at the bottom and click the etchable button with svg next to it. Once you click that it will save files on your desktop or where ever you save it.

There will be two files you need to put to the side, they are your file_top and your file_bottom, you need to screen shot them both and print them out.

STEP 6: Routing Your PCB

Once you have printed out the top and bottom stick them onto the PCB and then you just need to use your Stanley knife to separate the routes and make your PCB and then you can remove the paper from the PCB.

Comments

[billygreen1973]

I must be missing something. how do you remove the copper that's not needed. do you etch the board?

[JaceDuino]

yes

[Kuntakinta]

Do you have to print the circuit board with a 3D printer or a regular printer?
Also does this work?

[skepticaljay]

still not sure what you are doing on the last step? could you elaborate?

[JaceDuino]

Ok, so when you print out the circuit you made on Fritzing you glue it on or tape it onto the copper plate and what you do is use the stanley knife to cut a trace around the lines on the picture and drill a hole when the components go in. I'll do a video during this week

[acheide]

I didn't quite get the last step. Do you produce this on a CNC mill?

[JaceDuino]

Well you can but I understand that some people don't have those recourses so you can also just use a sharp stanley knife, that is how I do it and it works fine but takes a little longer.