Hi my name is Keith Lohmeyer. My interest in electronics started in my teens but I chose a different career path. I rediscovered electronics and Arduino micro-controllers in 2013. This hobby has led to teaching teens and adults as a volunteer at our local public libraries. One of the classes that get the most attendees is the learn to solder class. In the past I ordered PCB kits from the Far East. Usually tree or heart shaped boards that have LEDs that are made to blink with some resistors, capacitors, and transistors and powered by a 9 volt battery, You can usually get the kits for less than $5 each including shipping. As of January 2024 we have had over 140 people try their hand at soldering with most leaving with a working project. We have had students from age 10 to over 60 go from no soldering experience to a completed working board they soldered themselves in a two hour class. Kind of nice to see all the smiles of accomplishment.
I follow a few electronics YouTubers. One of them is Ralph Bacon . Back in October of 2019 Ralph made a two part video called From Circuit Diagram to PCB (and part two). These videos gave me the encouragement to try designing some boards myself.
Success on the First Try
I have always thought 555 timers were interesting. I remembered a 555 timer book I used to have from Radio Shack. I could not find my copy but a Google search found a PDF version online. It is titled Engineer's Mini-Notebook 555 Timer IC Circuits by Forrest Mims III. With this book and some online resources including this 555 online calculator I was able to breadboard a working circuit for blinking LEDs with a 555 IC, a capacitor, and a few resistors, With my circuit diagram and Ralph's videos I designed my first board using the EasyEDA online editor. It took a while to learn to navigate the editor but I completed my first board in about 4 hours. With the direct links to JLCPCB for the boards and LCSC for the parts ordering is quick and easy. With boards at $0.50 and parts at $0.75 in lots of 10, it is quite the deal. Shipping will vary depending on how long you want to wait and if you want tracking. Here are the first boards.
The first one I soldered up worked great so I must have got the design right. I included some graphics on the front (scallop and solder iron) and a white rectangle on the back so students can sign their work.
Learn and Improve
While the first boards came out great I was still learning. For beginner boards I realized the capacitor lead spacing was a little tight. Also the 9 volt leads coming from the battery holder were a little close together. I also wanted to try a custom board outline. After a little research I was able to import a dxf board outline file. I did not change the schematic or the tracks so I decided to make this a larger order with 10 boards in 4 different colors. Here are the new and improved boards.
This is a link to the EasyEDA project page for the first two boards. Paul from learnelectronics is another of the YouTubers I follow. He recently did an on air build of one of these boards. You can find the video at this link.
Again I was quite happy with the results. Including shipping the board and parts came out to $2.40 each! Cheaper than the kits I was getting from Bangood. JLCPCB even sends out free swag with their orders.
Here are some more designs as I continue this hobby.
and more to come...
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