Oh man! When I made my first printed circuit board, I was so thrilled!
It was extremely satisfying to be able to touch my own circuit board design. And today it’s time you learn it too.
And the truth is that the process isn’t that hard. There are just a few steps you need to go through. And anyone can do it – even if you have no experience from before.
What is a Printed Circuit Board?
Would you like to make your own cell phone? Or computer? Or robot? Or flying saucer?
Well, then you would want to make a printed circuit board. So you see, a printed circuit board is really fun!
A printed circuit board is made out of a special glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material. And usually, it is green. But it can come in other colours too.
On the board, there are components. Well, at first there are no components. But you solder the components onto the board. THEN there are components on the board.
When you see the board in the picture above, do you believe that you can do the same?
Many people would answer “no”. So would I a few years ago. It seemed like a really complex task.. But is it really?
How To Make Your Own Printed Circuit Boards?
To make a printed circuit board you need to:
- Design schematics
- Draw the circuit board layout
- Get the board made
Design Schematics
The first step is to make the schematics. You can either find a schematic diagram that someone else has designed, or you can create your own from scratch.
Usually you start with a drawing of the circuit. Then you have to draw this circuit into a design tool, such as Cadsoft Eagle.
Draw Circuit Board Layout
So, you have your schematics drawn in your design tool. Now you need to draw the circuit board. You need to draw the wires that connect the different components.
This is kind of like the “connect-the-dots” game you might have played when you were a kid. When you drew the circuit diagram in the previous step, you told the program which components are going to be connected. Now you connect everything by drawing lines, and the program will tell you if you did it correctly.
Get the Board Made
With the board design finished, you are ready to get your board made. This can be done in a few different ways.
You can etch a board at home. The advantage with this is that you get your board made right away. The drawbacks are that you need to buy all this different chemicals and equipment. It takes time to place vias, and the precision is not that good.
You can get a board made by a CNC router. This also has the advantage that you get the board made right away. But such a CNC router is often expensive. And you still need to place vias manually.
The most simple and best way – at least in my opinion – is to get your printed circuit board made by a manufacturer. This is not hard and not expensive. You can get a board for as low as $1 per board!
How To Learn This Stuff Quickly?
Anyone can do these steps. As long as you know how to do them. One way to learn it, is by browsing around my site. I have written lots of articles on creating a printed circuit board.
For those who are a bit more un-patience – I have created a video training called «Building Advanced Hobby Circuits» that teaches this process step-by-step.
In the training, you will see exactly how I design a circuit board from scratch. Not only designing the board layout, but also how I order prototypes for $1 per board online in just a few minutes.
Click to learn more about the video training >>
Return from «Printed Circuit Board Guide for Beginners» to «PCB Design»
linus klingshak says
December 17, 2014 at 6:20 amthanks for your concine to improved the world of electronics.
rara says
December 21, 2015 at 2:36 amhahahaha
SODIQ says
December 17, 2014 at 3:51 pmHi ‘oyvind nydal dahl’ pls i want to get buy one of your ebook (get started building electronic ) but i dont have paypal account…. And i try to use my credit card to purchase it but it replied saying invalid country am frm Nigeria pls reply
admin says
December 17, 2014 at 7:09 pmHi, I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I have no control over the payment solution. It’s a third party service.
Oyvind
neha ingale says
January 1, 2015 at 11:17 amhiii,
I am neha. I am a student of first year of deploma of electronics. I want to made a circuit for compitition and I have very much interest in this field but I don’t know few concepts plzz you gave me a video of how to made circuit
admin says
January 3, 2015 at 2:11 pmHey, check out my Youtube channel for videos: http://youtube.com/BuildElecCircuits
Cheers!
Oyvind
rara says
December 21, 2015 at 2:39 amorayt! rock n roll to the world! \m/
DAMIM ANSARI says
January 9, 2015 at 12:41 pmHI SIR ,
I AM DAMIM,
I AM STUDENT AND ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS , IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE TO MAKE A SMALL HANDY MOBILE PHONE AT OUR OWN TABLE ?????????? AND IF POSSIBLE JUST TEACH ME THE STEP’S OR GIVE ME A SPARK TO IGNITE …………………….. SIR !!!!
I AM IN NEED OF MOTIVATION
THANK YOU SIR !!!!!!!
WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
admin says
January 9, 2015 at 9:43 pmHi,
Yes it’s possible to make a mobile phone. Here is an article on how to do that in a simple way: http://www.instructables.com/id/ArduinoPhone/
Cheers!
Oyvind
DAMIM ANSARI says
January 31, 2015 at 7:37 pmhello sir,
i am ansari,
i am again here to get some knowlegde !!!!!!!
sir , what is the best programming language to program a robot !!!!!!
is it easy to operate robot from pc using usb connection with that language !!!!!!!!
waiting for your reply !!!!!!!!!
admin says
February 1, 2015 at 2:20 pmHi,
It’s easiest to get started with Arduino: http://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/what-is-arduino/
Cheers!
Oyvind
anusha says
April 22, 2015 at 4:54 pmhaii..sir..actually i’am very interested in this particular field of making our own electronic gadgets..and robots but how i have to start my interest to be work. I want to learn to build electronic circuits effectively.Can i do this ????
admin says
April 23, 2015 at 1:28 pmHi, you can start here: http://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/electronics-for-beginners/
Cheers!
Oyvind
Emmanuella says
August 30, 2015 at 10:53 amMoring sir.. Pls is it possible to make a circuit board for a robot and if possible how plzz
Ian Johanson says
November 4, 2015 at 5:10 pmI have always wanted to build some kind of electronic device from scratch. However, I thought that it took a lot more to make a circuit board. Thanks for the links for designing/creating circuit boards.
admin says
November 17, 2015 at 4:10 pmI’m glad you found them useful!
Cheers!
Oyvind
tz says
May 31, 2016 at 8:46 amIs there a way to simulate my PCB.. I bit new into this field, but I have done some LT- Spice and there you can simulate your design to observe the behavior of the circuit. So is there something similar that can be done with the PCB designs ?
admin says
June 2, 2016 at 6:24 pmYour PCB should be the same as your schematic, so in that sense you can test it in Spice. Or are you talking about RF and heat simulations? In that case, I don’t have any experience.
Obadaken Oluwarotimi says
October 6, 2016 at 10:53 pmGreat to know you.
Obadaken Oluwarotimi says
October 6, 2016 at 10:55 pmThanks.
Engineering Done says
April 24, 2018 at 11:28 amThanks for this informative article for beginners