pcb

In this video I documented how I'm using Press and Peel blue sheets for toner transfer PCB etching for an Arduino Shield PCB. The video covers all the steps in the procedure somehow explained in my awful English.

Some time ago I created my first homebrew breakout board PCB for an ADXL345 accelerometer. After getting more experienced and testing the whole procedure some times I created a new and improved version.

In the attachments below you find all the Kicad sources needed to edit the design or printing the design by yourself.

All the designs are released under the Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence.

To show you how this works I created a video description:

This is my first try in creating an homebrew DIY breakout board for the ADXL345 accelerometer.

Yes, I know: it's pretty ugly.. but it works! This is the first try.
I'll try again soon using all the things I understood this time!

This is how I did it:

1. Design the PCB using Kicad
2. Print the PCB tracks to an Press and Peel sheet
3. Iron the Press and Peel sheet on a copper board
4. Etch with Ferric Chloride
5. Clean with Nitro Solvent
6. Drill with 0.8mm drill bit
7. Cook the PCB after placing the ADXL345 chip with Sn62 Solder Paste
8. Solder capacitors and male headers to the PCB
9. Wire the PCB to Arduino through a breadboard
10. Use some Arduino and Processing programs to test the board. Source codes available here

I want to say thanks to:
Kicad developers for making such a great Free, Libre and Open Source PCB design software
Laurent Saint-Marcel for giving me some great Kicad ADXL345 footprints
The guy behind http://codeyoung.blogspot.com/ for providing a great Arduino and Processing ADXL345 tutorial

I'll probably write a more detailed how-to in the next days, meanwhile feel free to add a comment below.