Fab Academy 2026

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WEEK 8 – Electronics Production ​

Assignments ​

Group Assignment ​

  • Characterize the design rules for your in-house PCB production process
  • Submit a PCB design to a board house

Individual Assignment ​

  • Make and test an embedded microcontroller system that you designed
  • Extra credit: make it with another process

Group Work ​

Our group work is accessible HERE (add the link)

Individual Work - PCB Design & Production ​

This week, I have machined a circuit board using the Roland MDX-40, a compact desktop CNC machine. As a first trial and test, I have decided to design and produce an extension board for the XIAO ESP32-C3 that I might be able to use for my final project.

PCB Design Process ​

Using Fusion 360, I have designed the following PCB:

Step 1: Schematic of the extension board

Step 2: Switch to 2D PCB mode, review the Design Rules settings, and refine the layout of the components

Step 3: Create the routing using the "Auto-route" function, and refine the 90-degree corners with 45-degrees ones

Step 4: Switch to 3D PCB mode, check if any defect, and if all ok... save as STL file the coper layer and the board layer.

PCB Production Process ​

The CAM software used for our Roland MDX-40 is MODELA Player 4, supplied by Roland with the CNC machine.

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