7. Electronics design

This week I learned how to make circuits using Ki CAD. My instructor recommend Ki CAD as it is a bit more simple then Fusion (Eagle).

Learning outcomes

Information from the Handbook

Linked to the group assignment page Documented what you have learned in electronics design Checked your board can be fabricated Explained problems and how you fixed them. Included original design files (Eagle, KiCad, etc.) Included a ‘hero shot’

My Background

In eningeering school I have had circuits for engineering, so I am used to drawing circuit and also I know the law used in electronics.

Set up

When wrking with circuits it can be important to know the common abbreviation and symbols. This site has a nice list, Electrical Abbreviations.

First I installed Ki CAD from their website. Next it is important to install the fab library. This library has the schematic and foot prints for all electronics in the fab lab. Below is the link for the instruction on how to set it up. I also decided to find all other libraries from the search. This will help stream line my work in Ki CAD. Fab Library - KiCAD

I had an issue with the fab library. Make sure to no rename it when importing it into Ki CAD. Both the schematic and the foot print need to be names fab.

Docs KiCAD is a resource to help get started in Ki CAD. These documents are a bit dense. but it is good to have them in your back packet

Making My First Circuit

I deiced to start simple. Using the ESP32S3 board and a neo pixel. The manual are here and if you right click the component and go into properties then you can open the data sheet. NeoPixel - WS2812B ESP3S3 Board Wiki

This picture is to show how to get to the properties using right click.

Ki CAD.zip

Process

I will briefly describe the process that I used in Ki CAD.

Schematic

Here is the schematic for the simple board I used to learn how to use Ki CAD. Overall, I feel that it is a pretty easy program to use.

PCB

Here is the PCB for the schematic of “my first board”.

It is important to think about the size of the bit when manufacturing the board. The bit we use for traces it a 1/64 mm mill bit. This mean that we need to account for the correct tolerances. Below are the settings and the path to change the size of the trace lines in Ki CAD in the PCB editor.

Path: File > Board Setup > Design Rules > Constraints

My Second Circuit

This board is much more complex because of all the neo pixels. This may not be the best way to do neo pixels but I was just curious about it. At least ever other neo pixel needs a capacitor. This design is more complex and i feel this is not the best way to do neo pixels.

Final PNG´s

Here is the site I used to convert the gerber into a png. Gerber to PNG This is an easy method however I know there is a way to convert the PCB deisgn into an SVG.

Cut Path Traces

Group Assignment

Group Assignment