In Part 6 of the Digi-Key Introduction to KiCad series Shawn walks us through the board layout stage with pcbnew. Shawn will show us how to import a net list, arrange components, draw a board outline, and make trace connections.

Learn to Surface Mount Solder with Sean Hodgins

October 22, 2017October 19, 2017 fustinieducation, microcontroller, Reflow, solder paste, soldering, surface mount, tutorialLeave a comment

Sean Hodgins has a great tutorial on surface mount soldering:

Learn to Surface Mount Solder Using an SMD Challenge PCB

I feel like surface mount soldering has a bad reputation. It can seem daunting to someone who has never tried it. Since a lot of my project involve using surface mount components, I thought it would be a good idea to make something to inspire people to try it out (without risking expensive components or their custom project).

Decide how you want to assemble your SMD Challenge Kit (re, the video) you can choose to use a soldering iron, or a reflow oven. They take about the same amount of time but using the soldering iron can be a little more challenging and doesn’t require a cheap toaster oven.

Parts:

Bill of Materials for PCB on FindChips.com
PCB Files on GitHub – or order them on my Tindie Store(soon) or get them by being a Patron.
Solder Paste (for reflow oven)
Solder for Hand Soldering
Flux for Fixing
CR2032 Battery

Tools:

Toaster over for Reflowing
Soldering Iron – Hakko FX888D is what I use.
ESD Safe Tweezers

Design a Raspberry Pi add-on board with KiCad

June 5, 2017July 18, 2017 fustinibeginner, kicad, raspberry pi, tutorial1 Comment

Learn how to design a simple add-on board for Raspberry Pi with KiCad in 20 minutes with this new tutorial from Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics:

Shine On You Crazy KiCad

This course shows how to make a custom but very simple piece of electronics for the Raspberry Pi platform. The primary purpose is to get users building something in KiCad as fast as possible.