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Electrical track
PCB design

Learn PCB design: from a working breadboard to Gerbers

The schematic, footprints, placement, routing, design rules and the Gerbers and BOM a board house needs, on three circuits that already work.

FreeIn your browser2 courses, 26 lessons, about 13 hours
Start freeThe schematicSee the course
Overview

How you will learn it

Most PCB tutorials start inside a design tool with a circuit you have never seen run. This course starts with three circuits that already work on a breadboard and takes each one to a board, so you only learn layout, not layout and the circuit at once.

Breadboard to PCB covers each step in order: the schematic, picking footprints, placing parts, routing traces, checking design rules and the files a manufacturer receives.

Outcomes

What you will learn

  • Draw a clean schematic from a working breadboard.
  • Choose footprints and place parts for short, sensible traces.
  • Route a board and pass a design rule check.
  • Read the Gerbers, drill file and bill of materials a board house receives.
Your route

The courses and lessons to take

Every lesson opens in the editor right away, signed in or not, and the simulator checks each step.

  1. Step 1 · 6 lessons · 3 h

    Breadboard to PCB

    The whole course.

    1. The schematicBefore any board, the circuit as a drawing: symbols instead of parts, nets instead of wires, and a 7805 supply read from its schematic, dropout included.
    2. FootprintsEvery part becomes copper pads and holes of the right size and spacing: read the four footprints of a USB to 3.3 V board, their drills, and where a footprint and the real part disagree.
    3. PlacementWhere the parts go decides how hard the routing is: the ratsnest of a 555 blinker, the placement rules that keep it short, and parts dragged and turned by hand.
    4. RoutingTurn the ratsnest into copper: a power track drawn by hand, two layers and a via, the autorouter for the rest, and why a power track is twice as wide.
    5. Design rulesWhat a board house can make: track width, spacing, drill, annular ring and edge clearance, the DRC that checks them, and rules broken on purpose to see what it says.
    6. Gerbers and the BOMWhat a board house actually receives: the Gerber layers, the drill file and the bill of materials, read off a finished USB to 3.3 V board by looking at it as made.
    Every lesson in the course
  2. Step 2 · 20 lessons · 10 h

    Electronics basics

    New to circuits? Build them first.

    A breadboard and a few parts, with one Uno blink at the start and no processor after it. What current, voltage, time and logic really do.

    Every lesson in the course
Keep going

Guides and tools on the same subject

Track

Electrical track

Current and voltage you can see, then transistors, op-amps, filters, power and PCBs. Every circuit runs in a real circuit simulator in your browser.

See the whole track
Questions

Questions people ask

Can I learn PCB design for free?

Yes. Breadboard to PCB is free and runs in your browser, and the schematic exports to KiCad when you want a full desktop tool.

Do I need KiCad installed?

No. The course runs in your browser. KiCad is a good next step, and the export lets you carry your design over.

What are Gerber files?

The files a board house uses to make your PCB: one per copper, mask and silkscreen layer, plus the drill file. The last lesson reads them off a finished board.