Interest Check: Designing PCB with Eagle Cad - Arduino Shield

Education Interest Check
#1

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Eagle PCB since wayyy before it was owned by Audodesk. It was always too expensive for me to grow out of the limited box that Eagle Cad gave the free version. But things have changed!

So I thought it would be fun to have a class to tie into the Arduino classes. Given that there is a lot of material to cover we could spread it out over three 1.5 hour sessions.

You don’t have to have extensive Electronics knowledge to benefit from the class. However, a strong inquisitiveness and desire to learn are important. If you’ve ever been curious how circuit boards are made, now’s your chance! I encourage you to download Eagle, setup your account, and bring your laptop once the date is finalized.

My [revised] class outline would be:

Part 1
Introduction to Eagle
Basic schematic concepts
Using libraries
Create our own library
Create a library component (Base Arduino Uno shield)

Part 2
Create a project
Add the newly created Arduino Shield to our schematic
Add some other useful components (595 shift registers?)
Add some LED 7 segment displays
Add some resistors
Maybe add some buttons?
Layout the board
Route the board using the Autorouter
Demo and discuss ground planes
Play with Vias

What do you think?

3 Likes
#2

Given my experience with the kicad class I taught you will need more then 1.5 hours to walk a class through designing and laying out a board.

My class was a simple 32 pin breakout board for a single chip. I could design and layout in only 45 minutes. My 3 hour class was unable to get people to a complete board even with an hour of over r

#3

That’s good feedback. Maybe this is a little ambitious…

#4

Looks like you’re still working on the curriculum, but I assure you I’ll be interested in taking this class, whatever form you decide on. I’ve been meaning to learn Eagle for a while.

#5

Same here… It’s been years since I’ve done a PCB layout in Eagle and I have to relearn it.

#6

Can someone suggest a room for this class? It should have projector capabilities (I have my own projector if needed). Lecture is a big room, but last time I visited a class in Lecture the projector was really being a pain; and Interactive was nice because it has tables but no projector…and the screens are hard to see from the back.

#7

Lecture has a huge, new projector.