Breadboard to PCB lesson plan
Take three working circuits from the breadboard to a finished board: the schematic, footprints, placement, routing, design rules, and what a board house needs.
Objectives and materials
By the end, students can
- Read the schematic, and see each part become its footprint.
- Place the parts, route the copper, and pass the design rules.
- What Gerbers and a BOM are, read off a finished board.
Materials for the whole unit
- Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo
- Capacitor x 2
- Full-size breadboard
- Half breadboard
- LED
- NE555 timer
- Resistor x 4
- Slide switch
- USB power
- Voltage regulator
Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too.
From circuit to board
Read the schematic, and see each part become its footprint.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 35 min |
|
| 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. | 30 min |
|
Materials
- Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo
- Capacitor x 2
- Half breadboard
- LED
- Resistor
- USB power
- Voltage regulator
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Footprints" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "When the footprint is not the part".
Lay it out
Place the parts, route the copper, and pass the design rules.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 30 min |
|
| 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. | 35 min |
|
| 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. | 30 min |
|
Materials
- Battery: AA, coin cell, LiPo
- Capacitor x 2
- Full-size breadboard
- Half breadboard
- LED
- NE555 timer
- Resistor x 4
- Slide switch
- Voltage regulator
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Design rules" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Route it, then break a rule".
Ready to make
What Gerbers and a BOM are, read off a finished board.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 30 min |
|
Materials
- Half breadboard
- LED
- Resistor
- USB power
- Voltage regulator
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Gerbers and the BOM" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Write the BOM".
Teach this unit as a class
Start a class from this course and its 6 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you.
The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way.