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Electronics Production

What is Electronic Production?

Electronic production is the process of building a physical electronic circuit or device from a digital design. It involves making the PCB (Printed Circuit Board), placing and soldering components, and testing the final product to make sure it works properly.

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Main Steps in Electronic Production:

1) PCB Making

  • You start by creating the actual board — either by milling it (removing copper) or using chemicals to etch it from a copper-clad board.

2) Component Preparation

  • You gather all the electronic parts (resistors, capacitors, ICs, microcontrollers, LEDs, etc.) based on your schematic.

3) Soldering

  • You attach each component to the PCB:

  • Through-hole components go through the board and are soldered from the bottom.

  • SMD (Surface-Mount) components are tiny and are soldered directly on top of the board.

  • This can be done using a soldering iron, hot air gun, or a reflow oven.

4) Testing the Circuit

  • After assembly, you check that everything works using tools like a multimeter (for voltage, continuity) and an oscilloscope (for checking signals).

  • This helps you find and fix mistakes like solder bridges, wrong connections, or faulty parts.

5) Programming the Microcontroller

  • If your board has a microcontroller, you upload code (firmware) to make it do something useful — like blinking an LED or reading a sensor.

6) Final Assembly

  • Once everything works, you can put the board into a case or enclosure for protection and usability.

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Group Assignment

PCB Design Rules & Production Workflow

Part 1: In-House PCB Milling — Design Rule Testing

We used our lab’s PCB milling machine (CNC) to test and define basic design rules for successful in-house board production. This helped us avoid broken traces and improve milling accuracy with fewer retries.

Key Observations:

  • Minimum spacing between traces needed to be more than 0.4 mm to prevent unintentional merging.

  • A 0.2 mm clearance between pads and traces gave reliable results.

  • We broke a bit due to a fast plunge rate — adjusting the speed solved the problem.

Part 2: Sending PCBs to a Fabrication Service

We also explored the process of outsourcing PCB production to manufacturers like JLCPCB or PCBWay.

Steps We Followed:

  • Designed the board in KiCad, making sure footprints and routing followed the fab's specs.

  • Performed a DRC check using the manufacturer’s design rule file to meet minimum standards (like track width, hole sizes).

Exported Gerber files including:

  • Top copper layer

  • Drill files

  • Board outline

  • Optional: solder mask layer

  • Zipped and uploaded the files to PCBWay, selected board specs (color, thickness, finish), reviewed the preview, and completed the order.

  • Tracked shipping and delivery timelines.

This comparison helped us see how precision and finish vary between DIY and professional boards.

What We Learned as a Team - Tool diameter and feed rates have a big impact on milling quality.

  • Fast plunges or too-deep passes can easily break bits.

  • Outsourced boards allow higher precision, multilayer routing, and professional finishes, but take more time.

  • In-house milling is great for quick prototyping and testing ideas.

  • We now understand the difference between generating Gerber files (for fab houses) and G-code/toolpaths (for CNC milling).

Mihir's page covers our Roland SRM-20 test runs, depth calibration, and multiple PCB trace width trials to finalize reliable design settings.

My Personal Takeaways

  1. Learned how to generate and interpret Gerber files for manufacturing.

  2. Gained hands-on insight into how cutting depth and plunge rate influence PCB milling quality.

  3. Understood how the Mods interface converts PCB designs into CNC toolpaths.

  4. Got a clearer perspective on the limitations of in-house milling versus the capabilities of professional boardhouses.

Individual Assignment

For this week’s assignment, I had to design and fabricate my own PCB. I decided to create a breakout board for the Xiao RP2040, essentially an extension board that provides access to almost every type of pin and its function. The process involved multiple steps, from designing the schematic to milling the PCB on a Roland SRM-20. Below is a detailed breakdown of my workflow.

Preparing in CopperCAM

With the Gerber files ready, I imported them into CopperCAM to generate toolpaths for the Roland SRM-20 CNC machine.

Layer Setup in CopperCAM:

  • Engraving Layer (Top Layer) – Converted to a toolpath using a 0.2 mm V-bit

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  • Drilling Layer – Converted using a 0.8 mm flat-end bit

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  • Contour Layer (Board Outline) – Set up for cutting the rocket shape and mounting holes

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  • Tool Library-

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Settings:

  • Engraving depth: 0.1–0.15 mm

  • Drilling depth: 1.6 mm

  • Cutout depth (Contour): Full thickness of copper board (1.6 mm)

  • Step down: 0.6 mm per pass (for safe cutting)

  • Speed: Adjusted based on bit size and material

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PCB Milling – First Attempt

I used the Roland SRM-20 CNC machine for PCB milling.

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Tools used:

  • 0.2mm V-bit (Conical) for engraving

  • 0.8mm Flat End Mill for drilling and cutting

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First Attempt – What Went Wrong?

  • I engraved the board successfully using the 0.2mm bit.

  • Then, while drilling holes, I realized something was off — the holes were misaligned!

  • This happened because I accidentally shifted the origin point after the engraving.

  • The drill bit started drilling slightly offset, which would have ruined the whole board.

Always double-check and re-zero the XY origin after changing the tool!

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Successful Milling – Second Attempt

For the second attempt, I carefully followed these steps:

1.Fixed Copper Plate to the sacrificial layer with double-sided tape

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2.Set XY origin precisely using the V-bit

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3.Engraved circuit traces using the 0.2mm bit

4.Changed to 0.8mm bit, and this time,Re-set the XY origin correctly ,Drilled all pin holes successfully

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5.Ran the contour cut, which, Cut out the rocket shape perfectly, Also created the mounting holes

Final Board Outcome

  • Clean engravings

  • Accurately drilled pin holes

  • Neatly cut rocket-shaped board

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Post-Milling: Soldering & Assembly

After successfully cutting the PCB, I moved on to the assembly and soldering phase:

  1. Soldered the RP2040 chip carefully using solder paste and a heat gun.

  2. Added male header pins for easier prototyping and module testing.

  3. Soldered a SMD LED and a 1k resistor to the board — using a magnifying glass to ensure correct orientation of the LED (anode and cathode).

  4. Checked all components visually and with a multimeter to confirm continuity.

First Time Using SMD Solder Paste & Heat Gun

Image After finished milling and cutting out my rocket-shaped breakout board, I moved on to the assembly part — and this time, I decided to try something new: SMD soldering using solder paste and a heat gun.

Image Instead of regular through-hole soldering, I wanted to solder some SMD components — like an SMD LED, a resistor, and some small pads — just to try out the paste + heat gun method. Image

How was it Done

  1. First, I applied a tiny amount of solder paste on the SMD pads of the PCB — you don’t need much, just a thin dot.

  2. Then I carefully placed the SMD components (like the LED and resistor) on top of the paste using tweezers.

  3. To make sure the LED was in the correct orientation, I used a magnifying glass to check the anode and cathode markings properly.

  4. Once everything was placed, I used a heat gun to slowly heat the area.

  5. After a few seconds, the paste melted and reflowed, and the components got fixed in place perfectly!

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Files

PCB DESIGN Gerber File