Source: https://mokxi.com/learn/learn-pcb-design-free Updated: 2026-11-11 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. Free In your browser 2 courses, 26 lessons, about 13 hours Start free The schematic See 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. - Step 1 · 6 lessons · 3 h ### Breadboard to PCB The whole course. - The schematic Before 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. - Footprints Every 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. - Placement Where 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. - Routing Turn 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. - Design rules What 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. - Gerbers and the BOM What 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 - 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 Guide ### Export a circuit to a KiCad schematic Open it Compare ### Import from KiCad Open it Compare ### Mokxi and KiCad compared Open it 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.