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Electronics Design

Group Assignment 🔗

✔️ Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board

Individual Assignment

✔️ Redraw an echo hello-world board

✔️ Add (at least) a button and LED (with current-limiting resistor)

✔️ Check the design rules, make it, and test that it can communicate

✔️ Extra credit: make a case for it

⭕ Extra credit: simulate its operation

SKeTCH Board

1. Concept

I am fascinated by the pattern of the circuit board. On most boards, the lines are neatly arranged, and the angles are all multiples of 45 degrees. So I want to make a board with irregular lines and angles, like a board with children's sketches.

2. The Process

I use Autodesk Eagle in Fusion 360.

1. Setup FAB Library

2. Schematic Design

3. Board Design

4. Create PNG Images for Milling

Exporting PNGs that are appropriate for manufacturing using mods in a fab lab is a bit of a trick. We need to get PNGs that are purely black and white, that contain only the layers we want to mill.

1. Prepare inner line image.

To export a PNG for the traces, use the following commands in order:

  1. display none
  2. display top vias pads
  3. export image
  4. Tick monochrome option

2. Prepare outer line image.

To export a PNG for the outline, we do something similar:

  1. display none
  2. display bottom dimension vias
  3. export image
  4. Choose the same DPI
  5. In Photoshop or any image compositing software, fill the center part as white. In Photoshop, if you cannot do any operation for the imported image, selecting Menu > Image > Mode > RGB Color can solve the issue.

Notes:

  • black parts of the image will be milled away.
  • on the outline, make sure the board is completely filled in with white
  • but leave vias completely black: this will mean that we drill via holes and mill the out outline with one job

5. Board Production

  1. PCB Milling
  2. Soldering

Source

MTM Eagle Workflow

Electronic Symbols

Resources

⬇️ Download Project Files and Assets