Assignment Goal

For Week 6 electronics design, I am not going to lie — I did not fully know what I was doing at first, but I jumped into it anyway. I opened KiCad and started trying to recreate the same circuit I had already built earlier on a breadboard using my Arduino temperature control project.

My goal was to start understanding how a real PCB gets designed instead of only wiring things together on a breadboard. This week was about learning the basics of schematic design, PCB layout, traces, footprints, and electronic symbols.

Starting in KiCad

I basically copied the same components I had already used in my embedded programming assignment and started building them into a schematic inside KiCad. At first, the software was honestly confusing because there are a lot of windows, symbols, libraries, and settings to learn.

After getting the schematic together, I started routing traces on the PCB layout. It was not perfect, but it gave me a good starting point for understanding how everything connects together electrically.

Component Library Problems

One problem I ran into was that KiCad did not have all the components I needed. I could not find parts like the IRF520 MOSFET, TMP36 temperature sensor, and Arduino Uno R3 in the default setup the way I expected.

Later, I found out that I needed to install or add the Fab Academy libraries so I could access the correct parts, symbols, and footprints. This helped me understand that PCB software depends heavily on having the right component libraries installed.

I also learned that a symbol and a footprint are two different things. The symbol is what you see in the schematic, while the footprint is the physical size and pad layout that gets placed onto the PCB.

PCB Routing

Once I got parts onto the PCB layout, I started routing traces between components. This helped me understand how the electrical connections from the schematic become actual copper traces on a real circuit board.

Routing traces was harder than it first looked because traces cannot just cross through each other randomly. I had to move parts around, think about spacing, and try different routing paths to make everything connect.

Understanding PCB Design

This assignment helped me understand that a PCB is really just a cleaner and more permanent version of a breadboard circuit. Instead of jumper wires, the connections are built directly into copper traces on the board.

I also started understanding that PCB design requires planning. Part placement matters, routing matters, spacing matters, and the size of traces can matter depending on how much power or current the circuit uses.

Even though this was still an early learning stage for me, it helped me start thinking about eventually making my own PCB for my final project instead of relying completely on premade modules.

What I Learned

This week helped me understand the difference between breadboard wiring and actual PCB design. I learned how electronic symbols connect together, how traces are routed on a board, and how important component libraries are when working in PCB design software.

I also learned that electronics design takes patience. Even small mistakes in routing, spacing, or selecting the wrong footprint can affect how a PCB works later during manufacturing.

Most importantly, this week made PCB design feel less intimidating. At first KiCad looked overwhelming, but once I started placing parts and routing traces, it slowly started making more sense.