Workshop - PCB design with eagle - design your own arduino - Sunday April 30th 1pm-4pm? (free by donation to vhs)

Events and Announcements
1

I’ve been wanting to run a pcb design workshop for a long time, here it is.

This is a pcb layout workshop using eagle 7.7 (the last version before compulsory online registration).

We’ll be working with a customised arduino leonardo schematic. Customised because there is a bunch of stuff we don’t need

What we will do

  • arrive on time, you’ll need to be there at the start to participate
  • throw some money into the vhs donatio
  • take an existing schematic, add some parts, generate a pcb file and do the layout
  • learn a little about pcbs and why things are done in certain ways
  • optionally throw $10 or so into a jar to panelise our pcbs and send them off to be made (10 copies each).
  • optionally regroup in a month or two and build our projects

What we won’t do

  • much schematic design, no electronics knowledge needed!
  • spend ages arguing the merits of eagle vs … (please don’t do that here either).

You will need (please be ready beforehand)

I’m doing this in eagle because it is ubiquitous, mostly reliable and fairly easy for beginners.

Tickets at Workshop - PCB design with eagle - design your own arduino

Thanks to @Rob_MacKenzie for keyholding.

6 Likes
2

I want this so much!
I’m in, and a keyholder at that!

2 Likes
3

in…

1 Like
4

Tom thanks for doing this. I’m in as well.

5

@TomKeddie,

I’m curious, why the need for a mouse?

6

PCB design is really hard to do with a trackpad. Lots of dragging around
and quick movements.

Should be a few spares kicking around VHS if someone needs to use one for
the class.

2 Likes
7

Makes sense; thanks.

8

I’m in.

Mark

9

I’m in

10

Thanks for people’s enthusiasm, this will be fun.

As @jarrett said. I should have said something other than a trackpad, I use trackballs at home.

11

would love to learn Eagle

i am so in.

12

FYI…
Lots of people have said they are in but only 2 tickets have been taken (out of the 15)…
Make sure you get a ticket through the EventBrite link Tom put in the first post or you may not get a space…

I think…

13

The eventbrite date shows May 30, not April 30. Since you specify Sunday, I’m sure this is for April 30.

Just letting you know.

1 Like
14

Thanks for doing this, Tom.

This is something I’ve wanted to learn, but didn’t know where to start.

15

Yikes, thanks InezG, fixed.

16

Here are my first steps, downloading the leonardo source files, adding them to github, then removing the pcb.

[tom@z400 ~]$ cd ~/git/vhs/
iLoveSMT/ vhs-pcbs/ 
[tom@z400 ~]$ cd ~/git/vhs/vhs-pcbs/
[tom@z400 vhs-pcbs]$ ls
bus-pirate        fet-shield      led-matrix        makey-makey  usb-isolator
ethernet-gateway  kicad_workshop  maker-faire-2013  README.md    vhs-door-v3
[tom@z400 vhs-pcbs]$ mkdir arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop
[tom@z400 vhs-pcbs]$ cd arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop
[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ wget https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip
--2017-04-18 19:14:22--  https://www.arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip
Loaded CA certificate '/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt'
Resolving www.arduino.cc... 107.20.135.196, 50.17.197.103
Connecting to www.arduino.cc|107.20.135.196|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 250967 (245K) [application/zip]
Saving to: 'arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip'

arduino-leonardo-reference-d 100%[==============================================>] 245.08K   747KB/s    in 0.3s    

2017-04-18 19:14:23 (747 KB/s) - 'arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip' saved [250967/250967]

[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ unzip arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip 
Archive:  arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip
   creating: Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/
  inflating: Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/.DS_Store  
   creating: __MACOSX/
   creating: __MACOSX/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/
  inflating: __MACOSX/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/._.DS_Store  
  inflating: Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd  
  inflating: Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.sch  
  inflating: __MACOSX/._Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b  
[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ rm -rf __MACOSX/
[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ ls -al
total 264
drwxr-xr-x  3 tom tom   4096 Apr 18 19:14 .
drwxr-xr-x 13 tom tom   4096 Apr 18 19:14 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 tom tom 250967 Apr  7 08:27 arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip
drwx------  2 tom tom   4096 May 10  2012 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b
[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ rm arduino-leonardo-reference-design_3b.zip 
[tom@z400 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop]$ cd Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ ls
Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd  Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.sch
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ git add Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.*
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ git commit .
[master d069ee3] Added original arduino leonardo eagle files
 2 files changed, 37953 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd
 create mode 100644 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.sch
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ git push
Username for 'https://github.com': github@bronwenandtom.com
Password for 'https://github@bronwenandtom.com@github.com': 
Counting objects: 8, done.
Delta compression using up to 8 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (7/7), done.
Writing objects: 100% (8/8), 244.03 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 8 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (2/2), completed with 1 local object.
To https://github.com/vhs/vhs-pcbs.git
   4a753f0..02069fa  master -> master
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ git rm Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd 
rm 'arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd'
[tom@z400 Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b]$ git commit
[master f7f218a] Removed PCB file
 1 file changed, 15957 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 arduino-leonardo-eagle-workshop/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b/Arduino_Leonardo-REV3b.brd
17

Here’s a video of me editing the Leonardo schematic to simplify it.

  • remove 12v p/s
  • remove QFN version of 32u4
  • remove connectors
  • replace microusb with mini usb (easier to solder)
  • replace all resistor packs with discrete resistors.

I plan to walk through the video in the workshop to show the different editing tools. Many of these are common both to the schematic and pcb editors.

1 Like
18

Thank you Tom!
I would like to attend as well!
Best,
RK

19

Here’s what I’m thinking for an agenda.

1:00-1:30 Schematic editor demo

  • gui basics
  • zooming and panning
  • net names, labels and wire concepts
  • drawing wires and junctions
  • ERC
  • Copy/Paste
  • Libraries, packages and placing parts- connectors

1:30-1:55 Schematic editor practice
1:55-2:00 quick break
2:00-2:30 PCB editor concepts and demo

  • grid and measurement units
  • layers
  • DRC
  • mechanical considerations and pcb pricing
  • sick of beige templates
  • mechanical layout

2:20-2:55 PCB editor mechanical layout practice
2:55-3:00 break
3:00-3:20 PCB editor wiring and routing track

  • track widths
  • track corner styles
  • changing sides with vias
  • basic ground plane concepts

3:20-3:50 PCB editor wiring and routing track practice
3:50-4:00 PCB editor CAM files and gerber generation

20

I signed up cause lots of things I need to learn.

Just FYI the sign up said last registration date is May 28th. Odd. Just warning you so you don’t get sign ups after April 30th. Unless May 28th was intentional of course.