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Questions relating to designing PCBs
By pdumais
#187361
Hi,

I've never designed any PCBs before and this is something I wanna try. I'd like to start off with something really easy. I wanna make a 100mmx80mm board with only through-holes all over and make some connections between those points. So basically just a protoboard with integrated wires on it. I know it sounds silly, but I feel this is a good way for me to start.

I'm reading a lot of stuff online, including the excellent documentation on Sparkfun's site. But I might be a bit overwhelmed with information at this point, considering the very simple nature of my design. For example, the holes I want, are they "via"? and how do I make put them with the same spacing as a breadboard?

Can anyone give me a bit of information about this? Or perhaps share such a basic "protoboard" design so I could fiddle with it?

Thanks.
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By Ross Robotics
#187363
By default, Eagle's grid is already spaced at 0.1", the same as a breadboard. My advice would be to find a tutorial on Youtube and follow it. It also seems like you don't have much electronics knowledge, which is essential to begin PCB design. Eagle also has some example boards so you can familiarize yourself with the layout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqMeuLHx_EI
By pdumais
#187364
Thanks, that 0.1 was something I was looking for

You're right, I don't have much electronic knowledge, other than V=RI and don't stick a fork in an outlet. I'm more on the software side. I haven't had any problems building circuits with an AVR chip, enc28j60, esp-01 etc.. on a breadboard. I guess I'm at the point where I wanna start using my "toys" for real now so a breadboard is no good for me anymore. I've played a lot with protoboards but I want to get rid of all those wires. This is why my next move up above protoboards would be to make my own but with wiring included. My soldering skills are not that good, not enough to move on to surface mount anyway.

I just want to get rid of the hardware phase so I can start coding on my new machine. Sparkfun makes is wonderfully easy with all their already-made board. Plugging them all together allows me to get on with the software phase quickly, but it's not a solution for when I want to actually use the device and make it small enough. I often find that protoboards don't fit my needs
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By Ross Robotics
#187366
I understand, we all have to start somewhere. Like I said just start playing with Eagle and watch some tuts. All of Sparkfun's boards are available for download, so just play with those, change some things around to learn how Eagle operates. Watch lots of videos for beginning Eagle.

I guess the main thing beginners need to understand is start by drawing a schematic in Eagle, then switch to board view. Without a schematic, a PCB is useless.