PCB Design - Getting Started & Design Rules

This video is showing some useful tools and procedures designing PCBs in EasyEDA.
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[gir]

You need to read the manufacturer's specs carefully! For instance, JLCPCB's min trace width/spacing of 3.5 mil is only for multi layer pcbs. For single and double layer, it's 5 mil.

[ProtonOne]

A good rule in layouting is to prioritize your signals before you start with traces. The higher the frequency (rise time) of your signal, or the more susceptible a signal is to disturbance, the higher should the priority be. Place the important signals first. (Signals like clock, reset, watchdog, highspeed data or low amplitude measurements and high gain amplifiers)

Another good way of making layouts is to only use the smallest traces and distances if you actually need that to complete a layout. It's better to have some headroom and don't try to queeze the last micrometer out of the manufacturers claimed capabilities.
And just for educational purposes, that via you put into the corner of the plane at 5:39 is there to decrease the area of your signal loop. Less area, less antenna gain, less disturbance and emission potential. Always consider the full loop a signal takes. It does not only travel over the copper trace, but there is a usually return path of that signal thru your GND and/or VCC planes as well. And as you might expect, the higher the frequency (rise time) of your signals become, the higher the tendency of the return path to try and follow the signal routing in your traces. Why and how would it know where to flow in a flat sheet of copper? Electrical signals are naturally lazy, so they always prefer the path of least inductance. Funnily enough, inductance is reduced if the area spanning up between the forward and retun path gets smaller, and that effect gets even bigger the higher the signals frequency is...

[hansdietrich]

Using net labes is fine but that doesn't mean you shouldn't route any nets. Also always put inputs on the left and outputs on the right, ground pointing down and power up. This makes reading the schematics a lot easier

[calllen]

til mil is a separate thing and not just short for millimetre.

[svenpetersen]

I like, that you are using labeled signals it makes the schematics more readable. I am a development engineer for 25 years and had to review many schematics and always hated those that require a pencil to follow the connections :-) About the layouting: it is a good idea to decide for a main direction on each layer, like horizontal on top and vertical on the bottom (depending on the placement of the parts). This way, the layouting is not getting exponentially harder, the more traces you have already made. In the beginning, it looks goofy to change layers „for no reason“, but in the end, you have a design, that can easily be changed when required without ripping up everything. After routing many or all signals, I usually do an „optimizing“ pass. That means, I shorten the traces by making more use of the diagonal directions or sometimes rearrange a trace a bit. This also reduces the copper area and leaves more space for the remaining traces.

[kataseiko]

4:50 WTF kind of paperclips are you using? Or what size are your hands!?

[tburnip]

To avoid disconnected grounds you should always connect grounds before adding a copperfill ground plane.

[france-cao]

Update, you can now use AFNOR SPEC 2212 for your design rules ! 🚀 I've made a video on the subject if you're interested. Thanks for the video !

[Synthetech]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with EasyEDA! This helps me dig into PCB design alot!!
Hey all those complaining about the low rez right when the vid was freshly published.. YouTube updates 1080p versions sometimes half an hour or more after you first upload a video...
You have to be patient and come back to see HD.
I watched this clip in full HD 8hrs after it was posted.

[frazer]

Made a few PCB, s using easy eda and learnt a few more things from your video, did not know about the T and B key when running a track.

[colormaker]

I have boards due in today ! JLCPCB does quality work. I have worked with a few of there people through email support and they are friendly and supportive. JLCPCB have helped my business R&D department in a big way and we are able to prototype at a fraction of the cost from our previous fabricator. We use Altium but this software looks easy thank you for sharing.

[andremuensti]

The Autorouter works very well too. Good Video!

[andrewtoogood]

Wow the design rules you showed work with the auto router as well, so not i don't need to increase vcc routes after every change. Massive tip!

[floable]

if you use the top layer for GND fill you can use the bot layer for VCC fill. gives you a free capacitor on your supply. you then can "stich" both planes to together with capacitors

[RD-niqe]

Is the PCB color defined in the Gerber files? Or always defined by the manufacturer?

And what about the printed text colors?

[CarlStreet]

Great Tip and very well presented. Thank you for all your research and well designed videos!

[avejst]

Nice walkthrough
Thanks for sharing😀👍

[svenpetersen]

I think, a clear schematics, that reflects the functions and functional groups of the circuitry is just vital (as a good further documentation). And yes, never forget the design rule check. I even don‘t skip viewing the gerber files on a gerber viewer. It is a boring thing to do, but it can definitely save some money.

[cletemoore]

Hello, I need help with a PCB that I’m doing for my 9th grade science fair project. I’m getting input from a solar panel, it’s not a big one at the slightest, only about 4.5 inches by 2.5 inches. How should I go about designing the PCB and what components would I need? I do not need to convert power, all DC is perfectly fine.

[zackery]

A better way to remove part of the silkscreen layer that you don't like would be to set it to the document layer. That way you don't have to deal with ungrouping