EasyEDA for Beginners

Allow at least 3 days to learn sufficient EasyEDA to produce your first circuit board ! There is a lot to learn.

I watched a number of YouTube videos before finding Great Scott's From Idea to Schematic to PCB - How to do it easily! which despite being only 11 minutes long had sufficient information to enable me to get started.

But the problem with watching videos is that they only show the screen and not the mouse and keyboard. So you only get half of the story. Below you will find my notes on the other half of the story when using easyEDA for the first time.

Schematic Hints and tips

1. Great Scotts' use of net ports rather than physically drawing all the connections made creating my schematic a lot simpler.

2. User submitted components are full of errors e.g when you try to connect the nets the VID6608 has A and B Motor, Clk and Dir pins swapped !

PCB Layout Hints and Tips

3. Center the board on a whole number of tenths (0.254mm's) and lock it to stop it moving accidentally

4. Place components on a grid basis and lock them in place

Problems I ran across

1. Installing the component libraries on Mac...

2. Renaming Net Ports can get the editor confused

Choosing the right components

You would think knowing you want a 1K0 PTH (Plated Through Hole) Resistor it would be easy to find the right one in the EasyEDA Libraries.

But there are far too many components to choose from and each component has a multitude of suppliers and packaging options. The most common components in the EasyEDA libraries are SMD (Surface Mount Devices) but I tend to use PTH especially for resistors and capacitors as that is what I have in stock and real estate on a board is not normally a problem. Even when you find a PTH component you have to identify one with the right footprint (hole spacings). Most follow this naming convention, CAP-TH_Lx.x-Wx.x-Px.x-Dx.x, Capacitor, Thru-Hole, Length, Width, (Hole) Pitch, (Hole) Diameter.

So what looks like a good circuit on the schematic diagram can, when you get to the PCB layout stage, suddenly be wrong .

To confuse things further there are metric and imperial versions of some SMD passive components, fortunately components are normally labelled in imperial. But the 0603 designation is common to both so it can mean two different sizes! This article on EEPower explains it all in more detail.

I could do with a basic beginners library with a set of about 50 non-specific components. But until I learn how to create my own footprints with solder masks that will have to wait.

When it comes to soldering the smallest components I can just about manage to hand solder (remember I am 60+ with a +3 glasses prescription) these:

• SOP-8 IC's (do not try TSSOP's far too small)

• SOT-23 Transistors and MOSFETs (very fiddly)

• 0603 (0.03" by 0.06") (0.8mm by 1.6mm) are the smallest resistor/capacitors I can manage. But sticking to an 0805 is a whole lot easier!

• Do not even think about using 0204's and 0102's, to me these are just specks of dust.

If you are going down the SMD route I would recommend purchasing a pair of component testing tweezers (or just tweezer leads for your existing multimeter or component tester). Just so that you can check the type and value of a component before you solder it in place. Once components are off the tape reel they can look the same and many do not have any identifiers printed on them !

I have a Headband Magnifier Kit (which I find is not really that good when used with my existing glasses). I also own a 5X Magnifier Lamp which I find awkward to use when soldering and is only really useful for identifying components and checking solder joints. Fortunately Santa brought me a digital microscope for Christmas this year, a Mustek G1200D, you can see my review here.

Guide to drawing PCB tracks

1. In Layers and Objects select either TopLayer or BottomLayer depending which side you wish to start drawing the track on. To do this click on the appropriate colour block in the left most column so that a pencil is shown. If you click on the eye in second column you will hide that layer and half your tracks will temporarily disappear! When your drawing gets too busy you may want to play with turning off Layers temporarily to improve clarity (e.g. 3D Model or TopSilkLayer)

2. Select the track tool, from PCB Tools, then modify the defaults to suit you

   • If you want to, modify the Routing Width - I am currently using 0.3mm for signal tracks and 0.5mm for power tracks. But remember if you change the default width you may also want to change the default via size as well or they may act as fuses!

   • Choose your Routing Angle, I am using 45 Degrees for all track changes of direction. Note: that as you first draw a track the program will accept any angle, but when you come to correct/move the layout the program will snap the track segments to the nearest 45/90.

   • By default the Routing Conflict is set to Block i.e. not make connections that EasyEDA deems to conflict with the schematic. You can leave it set at that for the first pass, but may need to modify it to Ignore when correcting errors. See below...

3. Time to start drawing. Don't try to be too precise you will always have to go back and move tracks, so you can tidy them up afterwards.

   • To start put the cursor over the first node (pad/connector/pin/via/track).

   • Left click and release, then move the cursor to draw the first part of the track.

   • Left click and release, to signify a change of direction, a layer switch, or end of track

   • If you want to change layers press 'B' for bottom or 'T' for top layer before starting to draw the next segment. This will automatically add a via at the current location. Note this will default to via for 0.25mm track....

   • If you want to end the current track, but keep the tool active, Right click and release.

   • If you want to end the current track, and exit the drawing tool, press the Esc key.

   • otherwise draw the next segment and repeat...

4. If you have correctly routed a net (track) then whenever you roll the cursor over the track it will highlight in white from end to end (including the end pads/pins)

5. Now you can edit the track, but before doing so save the project (Ctrl-S on Windows and Cmd-S on Mac) in case of mistakes. You can recover from most mistakes by using the undo (Ctrl-Z on Windows and Cmd-Z on Mac)

Add another node on a track

1. Press "Esc" to exit all tools

2. Roll the mouse over the track you want to edit, it will turn white

3. Left click and release anywhere on the track and the nodes (green spots) will appear

4. Left click and release will select a sub segment (will change colour to a paler version of itself)

5. Now Double left click and release anywhere on the segment will add a new central 3rd node

Delete a spare node on a track

1. Roll the mouse over the track you want to edit, it will turn white

2. Left click and release anywhere on the track and the nodes (green spots) will appear

3. Place the cursor over the node you want to delete, right click and release will present a "Delete Node" confirmation box, left click on the box to delete or press "Esc" key to exit.

Delete a segment of a track

1. Roll the mouse over the track you want to edit, it will turn white

2. Left click and release anywhere on the track and the nodes (green spots) will appear

3. Left click and release will select a sub segment (will change colour to a paler version of itself)

4. Press the keyboard "Delete" key (or Right click to bring up the context menu and select Delete)

Merging Tracks - Fixing Yellow Crosses

If you get a yellow cross where you expected a track join or the wiring net does not highlight in white from end to end then you may need to force a join between two different wiring Nets.

1. Select the track tool

2. In the right hand detail pane change Routing Conflict from Block to Ignore

3. You will need to add a new short segment of track, starting at the failed join, along either track and this should cause the merge nets prompt to appear.

4. Accept the prompt to merge the two nets

5. Change Routing Conflict from Ignore back to Block

Changing a components once routed

1. Save the Project

2. On the Schematic Tab, make a note of the original component's Unique ID e.g. U1, R2, C3, D4

3. Place the replacement component on the schematic, delete the old one, slide in the new and reconnect the wiring if necessary. The same component, especially IC's, can be drawn many different ways so may not be a drop in replacement.

4. Rename the replacement component to the original component's Unique ID

5. On the Schematic Tab, select the component then Menu, select Design->Reset Component Unique ID

6. Save the Schematic

7. On the PCB Tab Menu, select Design ->Import Changes and accept all prompts. This will delete the old component and place a new one (complete with rat strings) to the side of the PCB.

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Copper Fill

The last step of wiring a board is to flood fill the top and bottom layers with a Copper ground.

This should be as simple as selecting the tool, PCB Tools -> Copper Area, drawing a polygon around the areas to be filled, for my circular boards I drew a square around the whole board and that seems to work well, then right clicking to perform the fill.

However after flooding you will need to fiddle with the track layout to widen some channels for the flood fill to get to some bare board islands. Y can use Cmd-Z to remove the last fill so that you can see the tracks to move them without breaking. Or simply click on the fill polygon that you drew and delete it.

Checking

There appears to be a bug in checking Via's so go into the Design Rule and reduce the diameter from 0.61mm to 0.60mm

Adding VIAs

VIAs can be added automatically by simply changing layers when creating a track (using the T and B keys).

A newly added VIA will default to the same size as the last VIA added (You can copy and paste one of the correct size first to set the attributes then delete it).

If you want to add VIAs manually, for example when editing a track, then the simplest method is to CTRL-C then CTRL-V an existing via on the same Net. If there is not one then use the PCB Tools->VIA however remember that a newly added VIA will default to some previously touched random Net, so immediately after adding, select it and then correct the Net name.

Setting the Net name to GND will enable you to use perform ground plane stitching.

Creating and Checking Gerber Files

This can be confusing....

Ordering PCBS

Pushing the Order PCB button from within the EasyEDA App will open what appears to be a new application window (which may or may not be part of a browser).

.... Insert details of uploading Gerber Files

They also push you (by using a pre selected option with the help text conveniently grey'ed out) to select their pre-pay option i.e. pay before the Gerber files have been checked. But as my first order for 2 lots of 5 circular PCBs, after a 2$ discount, came to less than $10 including 20% UK VAT and delivery. So I took the risk.

The payment page does not exhibit a locked padlock icon to make you feel happy and the usual Paypal pop-up is several times it's normal size. It does seem to work, but just how secure it is, is an interesting question. But Paypal reported the order within 5 minutes so I suspect it is legitimate.

When you do get to the shipping options. if you can afford to wait a few days more, then the cheapest option is the last one "Special Airline" with delivery to the UK in 9 to 12 days. However for the UK that option uses Yodel for the last leg so, given their poor delivery track record, I was prepared for it to take a bit longer !

My experience with JLCPCB....

I placed my order on evening of the 13th.

On the 14th overnight I received an eMail to advise me of an error on my part on one board, with a motor hole cutting a track and JLCPCB support offered a proposed re-routing. I proposed an alternative solution (don't drill the offending hole) and support got back to me within 10 minutes accepting my alternative.

On the morning of the 17th I received an eMail to advise me that my order had shipped, meeting their promised 4 day turn around.

Despite this being the Christmas holiday season, with a 4 day national shutdown in the UK, Yodel delivered the finished boards on the morning of the 29th. There was no delay through UK Customs.

The board quality exceeded my expectations and, whilst I will need another iteration to clear up my errors, as delivered the boards are functional and look great.

ToDo list for V3 boards

1. Fix the track cut error on Offset Dial V2 (cut by motor hole)

2. Make sure all PTH components (R2,D1,H2) are well clear of the motor, so that the optional components/connectors can be added after the motor has been soldered in.

3. Change the SMD pad size to 0805 not 0603 to make soldering easier.

4. Widen the header pads to make soldering easier.

5. Separate the 5V to the AT1604 from the rest of the boards 5V net for programming purposes. I do not want to power up the entire board from the programming serial adapter, despite it currently working OK that way, as the in-situ load current for a twin motor set up could be too high. Add a 6th pin on H3 for a 5V jumper link to the 5V net, connect the AT1604 directly to H3 5V in.

6. Add a needle home sensor line header to the 1604.

7. Add Mounting holes ?

8. Check out the motor holes as they are for the wrong version of X.27 motor rear vs front mount pins

9. Can I shoehorn in both the centre and offset motor pads onto one board ? Do I need all those extra holes ?

10. Can I break out the Gnd pins for easier soldering ? Isolate all header pins from the ground plane and add a separate track to a ground pad (fuse link to ground, Create a two pin component that is basically a short to a ground via )

I can use the raw V2 boards on Secondary instruments. Secondary boards are unpopulated apart from the MA Header which is then wired to a primary boards MB Header.