WEEK #06

ELECTRONICS DESIGN

Drawing the nervous system. From digital blueprints to copper paths.

ALL ACCESS MISSION FILES (GITLAB REPO)

MISSION BRIEFING

This week's goal is to design a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) from scratch using an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software. I will build the first brain of my Smart Goal project, adding a XIAO RP2040, a button, an LED, and expansion pins for an OLED screen.

For this mission, I chose KiCad because it is open-source, powerful, and strictly logical.

02. THE ARSENAL (INSTALLING FAB LIBRARIES)

To ensure my digital design matches the real components we have in the Fab Lab inventory, the first critical step was installing the official Fab Academy Library in KiCad.

Installing KiCad Fab Library
Adding the Fab footprint and symbol libraries in KiCad's Plugin and Content Manager.

03. THE BLUEPRINT (SCHEMATIC DESIGN)

I started placing my components in the schematic editor. I added the Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040 as the main brain, a 1206 LED as my "Goal Indicator", a tactile button, and a 4-pin header to connect an OLED screen via I2C later.

Placing Components
01. Placing components and assigning the correct 1206 SMD footprints.
Wiring the Schematic
02. Connecting pins. I used labels (3V3, GND, SDA, SCL) to avoid a spaghetti of wires!
Final Schematic
The final schematic. I had to add a PWR_FLAG to the 3V3 line so the Electrical Rules Checker (ERC) wouldn't panic.

04. THE COPPER LABYRINTH (PCB LAYOUT)

With the logic defined, I pressed F8 to import everything into the PCB Editor. The components arrived tangled in a web of thin white lines called the "Ratsnest". My mission was to untangle them and draw the physical copper tracks.

  • Evacuation: First, I moved the resistor, LED, and button outside the XIAO's footprint so they wouldn't crash physically.
  • Track Width: I set the track width to 0.4mm to ensure the CNC machine could mill them without breaking the copper.
  • Safe Routing: I avoided passing tracks directly under the XIAO's belly to prevent short circuits with its metal pads!
Ratsnest
01. The messy ratsnest before arrangement.
Routing Tracks
02. Drawing the 0.4mm tracks safely around the board.
Connecting Ground
03. The final touch: connecting the GND island back to the XIAO pin 13.

05. THE SECRET IDENTITY (INKSCAPE TO KICAD)

I didn't want a boring square board. Since this is for a soccer project, I wanted the PCB to have the shape of the Puebla soccer team shield!

Original Reference Image
This was the original logo reference I wanted to use for my board's shape.

But when I imported the SVG into KiCad's Edge.Cuts layer, the 3D viewer showed a strange double-wall glitch.

Inkscape Double Line
01. Using Inkscape's Outline Mode to reveal the hidden double line causing the error.
Inkscape Single Path
02. Breaking it apart, keeping only the outer skeleton, and saving as Plain SVG.

After stripping the shape down to a single perfect outline in Inkscape, I re-imported it into KiCad, scaled it down, and removed the "Fill Polygon" setting. The result in the 3D viewer was an absolute masterpiece.

Final 3D Render
The Smart Goal v1.0 brain, ready to be milled!

06. 3D INTERACTIVE REVEAL

Don't just take my word for it—examine the hardware yourself! Rotate, zoom, and inspect the Smart Goal v1.0 board in full 3D directly below.

1 by NagiYuuta13 on Sketchfab