Making Custom Printed Circuit Boards

As a starter, it is okay to have your custom printed circuit board on a breadboard because they work just fine. As you perform more experiments, you quickly realize that you need to put together the already working circuits more permanently in what can be called a custom PCB. The quickest method to do this is to use a perfboard; which is a ready make custom PCB with lots of holes on the board that you can simply solder your custom PCB components permanently together to make the same circuit as was in the breadboard but this time, a permanent circuit. The disadvantage of laying out your circuit on a perfboard is that it can be confusing to follow up with the traces and the connecting jumpers. Still, at the end of the day, the circuit looks ugly and unprofessional.

You realize that you learn a lot as you move from breadboard to perfboard. The next stage that is interesting is making the custom PCBs through the etching method. This method produces a more professional looking custom PCB and you can not confuse any connection traces since everything was put together in a design software. This ultimately means that for you to move from perfboard to an etched custom PCB, you have to know how to design a custom PCB using a PCB design software. The resulting designs from the design software are the ones printed out and used as a mask in the etching process.

The resulting custom PCB done by etching process could be made to fit in a small sized board. This consumes less space and keeps components organized as needed. Making a custom PCB through the etching process is satisfying since you do it all by yourself. The boards could actually look professional especially if you perfect the etching skills. As you keep making different types of custom PCBs, you will quickly realize that a 2 or 4 layer board makes life much easier when making custom PCB designs. Etched custom PCBs does not have vias or through-hole plating; which are very important in making a multilayer board. The next level in making PCBs is submitting your custom PCB Gerber design files to a trusted PCB manufacturer who can comfortably handle small orders. A good example is wellpcb.com. This takes all the hustle of making a custom PCB through etching at a small cost. This is a great advantage since you can submit your 4 layer designs for manufacturing. The resulting boards are professional which you can comfortably assemble your PCB components on. By letting a PCB manufacturer put your custom PCB together, you will have more time to concentrate with the custom PCB design. This process also makes it easy for them that want to sell their custom PCBs.

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Created on Mar 16th 2018 03:46. Viewed 416 times.

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