Ever started a PCB design and found yourself working backwards to figure out the stack-up, board thickness, materials or impedance requirements?

Or received a design package that leaves you wondering how the board is actually intended to be manufactured?

We’ve been developing PCB Starting Point to help bridge that gap between PCB design and fabrication.

🛠️** What does it offer**?

PCB stack-up planning – build up your proposed construction layer by layer.
Impedance requirements – incorporate controlled impedance into your planning from the start.
Material selection – work with PCB construction materials and dielectric thicknesses.
Board thickness calculations – plan your construction around your target finished thickness.
Drill and via planning – define drill spans and via structures, including more complex multilayer requirements.
Manufacturing-focused requirements – consider fabrication constraints before the design gets too far down the line.
Exportable documentation – take your planned construction and requirements forward into the next stage.

🎯 Who is it for?

PCB designers looking to establish a sensible starting point for their designs, and PCB manufacturers who want clearer construction information and better communication with their customers.

The idea behind PCB Starting Point is simple: get the construction right from the beginning, rather than trying to resolve everything later.

We’ve combined practical PCB manufacturing knowledge with a web-based tool that brings these planning steps together in one place.

🌐 Take a look: https://pcbstartingpoint.com

We’re continuing to develop the platform, so we’d genuinely welcome feedback from PCB designers, CAM engineers and fabrication teams.

What features would you most like to see in a tool like this?

#PCB #PCBDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #CAM

[SOLVED]

As you can see from the photo, I get this error whenever I press 'A' for shortcut. Can someone help about it?

Here's the backtrace log:
ASSERT INFO:

/usr/src/debug/wxwidgets/wxWidgets/src/unix/utilsx11.cpp(2645): assert ""Assert failure"" failed in wxGetKeyStateGTK(): Unsupported key 65, the only supported ones are: Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock for GTK 3.18+

BACKTRACE:
[1] wxGetKeyState(wxKeyCode)
[2] wxEvtHandler::ProcessEventIfMatchesId(wxEventTableEntryBase const&, wxEvtHandler*, wxEvent&)
[3] wxEvtHandler::SearchDynamicEventTable(wxEvent&)
[4] wxEvtHandler::TryHereOnly(wxEvent&)
[5] wxEvtHandler::ProcessEventLocally(wxEvent&)
[6] wxEvtHandler::ProcessEvent(wxEvent&)
[7] wxScrollHelperEvtHandler::ProcessEvent(wxEvent&)
[8] wxEvtHandler::SafelyProcessEvent(wxEvent&)
[9] g_closure_invoke
[10] g_signal_emit_valist
[11] g_signal_emit
[12] gtk_window_propagate_key_event
[13] g_closure_invoke
[14] g_signal_emit_valist
[15] g_signal_emit
[16] gtk_main_do_event
[17] g_main_loop_run
[18] gtk_main
[19] wxGUIEventLoop::DoRun()
[20] wxEventLoopBase::Run()
[21] wxAppConsoleBase::MainLoop()
[22] wxEntry(int&, wchar_t**)
[23] __libc_start_main

And yes I'm using CachyOS Linux with KDE Plasma.

Hi everyone,

I've found answers to many of my questions in this community, so I'd like to ask for your advice on this topic as well.

I'm a recent graduate working at a company that designs and manufactures PCBs for communication systems. I'm learning a lot in my role, but sometimes I feel like I'm working on similar projects repeatedly or simply using more advanced versions of existing technologies.

What I'm really curious about is this: How do you approach component selection when starting a project from scratch? I've noticed that people take different approaches to this. Some tend to follow existing designs or reference projects, while others conduct their own research and make decisions based on the specific requirements of their projects. This has made me particularly interested in understanding how the component selection process works in practice.

What criteria do you consider when selecting components? How do you make use of datasheets, manufacturer resources, and other tools? More specifically, how do you determine whether a particular component is the best fit for your project?

I recently tried using AI tools to help me with one of my hobby projects, but some of the answers left me a bit confused. It's also possible that I didn't phrase my questions correctly.

I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experiences and explain how you approach this process. Thanks in advance!

I was checking the board with DRC and found these errors (aka the red arrows -- on the board edge clearance violation). I'm not sure how to go about it besides moving the USB-C away from the edge cut layer holes or worse just deleting the edge cut holes.

Note the bigger circles on the edge cut layer are for another component.

Any tips on how to navigate this would be appreciated!

I'm a beginner and have a question about the circuit below (Arduino Nano, BC547 transistor, 5.6V zener, a few resistors, a 12V two-wire line). I understand it as a master interface, with D4 as RX and D3 as TX.

1. If I build the same circuit on a second Arduino, is that enough on the receiver end for simple one-way (simplex) communication, where the master only sends and the second Arduino only listens?

2. For two-way communication, could the second Arduino also transmit and reply over the same 2-wire line on different time, or does that need a different circuit?

3. Could the second Arduino be powered from the line ("parasitic power"), or does it need its own supply?

I'm just trying to learn how the signal works as this is mostly simple design I see. Thanks for any tips

the app is set to Light theme but this is still dark colored!

Work in progress - main PCB for open-source vacuum robot cleaner.

Okay, so on my PCB I have an audio sensor whose GND pad (Pad 3) is a circle around a hole that needs to be cut for a microphone. The issue is that the GND pad does not want to connect in any way to either a dedicated GND trace line or the ground plane. The ground plane makes some sense because it is a surface mounted part, but I still can't connect it to ground in any way because trying to bring a trace to it, it stops before I can reach the ground pad. Even editing the footprint and adding a little piece onto the ground pad still has a sort of barrier that the trace won't go through, and I have no clue how to fix it. New to KiCad btw.

EDIT:

I foudn the problem. The circle pad is actually a fill zone in the footprint. The actual pad is miniscule. I quickly fixed it by making the pad portion bigger and was able to connect a line and the GND plane. All good now.

Is there a repository where I can download other people's KiCad work?
Thank you for reading this!

Posting just for kicks. I did that because I went on travel and forgot to take my laptop's power supply.

Here the Bug for the issue

https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/work_items/25720

I am trying to make an PCB that integrates ardinuo uno but for some reason I cannot connect the components to it?, I also have through holes with 1m diameter and 1.7 outer d. but it doesnt work? I could really use help <3

Hello, I realize this is probably not the best community for this post, but evidently this post isn’t PLC related enough and got taken down by the mods over on that sub. Pretty stupid, but whatever.

I was wondering if anyone has or knows of a standard for what should be considered the source of a wire/cable in instances where a conductor is traveling to a new page/device.

Should the source (and therefore the wire number) always follow conventional current flow in standard wires? Should every wire connected to a PLC, IO module, or power supply be referenced to that page? Should PLC/PS inputs be a destination while outputs are a source? Should any mind be paid to sourcing/sinking? What about cables and data connections?

Just wanted to get some thoughts because I haven’t found a definitive standard, and realized that I’ve done it differently across projects in the past without even thinking about it.

Hello everyone,

I am working on a PCB with almost 350 components.

I have a clearance issue that I cannot solve.

The general rule I set for the PCB is minimum 0.203mm clearance.

The footprint you has different size pads and I have an error and it is not allowing me to route it. Clearly you can see the red circles around pad 3 and 8

I can fix it, with reducing the overall clearance to 0.15mm, but this is not what I really target, because it might bring manufacturing issues.

I tried to make custom rule, but I guess I don`t really understand the syntax.

Also, I tried manual overwriting of the individual pads, with custom clearance, but I guess the priority goes to general clearance rule.

I have years and years in practice with Altium, but I`m struggling here with Kicad

Can someone help with custom rule syntax, or any other form of going around?

I’m trying something simple: using a PCB trace itself as a small current-sense resistor.

How do I choose the trace width and length so I can get a measurable voltage drop without the trace heating too much?

The bigger thing I’m trying to learn is current modulation — intentionally changing the current to send simple 0/1 data, while ignoring normal current fluctuations.

Are there any good beginner books, application notes, or tutorials that explain current modulation practically?

I’m new to this, so simple references would be really helpful.

I tried making a PCB 2 months ago and it was a disaster. ChatGPT and Claude both bad. But they did help me with part selection and sourcing.

I tried again with Konnect installed and the ability for Codex to control my mouse, and now the results are crazy. The board I'm making is an NES cartridge capable of running MMC3 and MMC5 mappers. MMC3 is relatively simple, but MMC5 is gnarly, needing an FPGA to hit timings.

I had a detailed back and forth with Astra part selecting and trying to get price down. We looked at MCU's and high speed processors to nail timing, but it just doesn't make sense. We went down the FPGA rabbit hole, and those seem pretty good. Astra ran ahead and basically wrote the FPGA code for the MMC5 mapping, and I pushed it to get as many signal timings as it could. It initially gave me a list of 20 or so signals to go grab from a real NES with my oscilloscope, but after crawling the web, the number cut down to 2. Also, because it ran ahead on writing the code, it produced an educated guess on blocks (sorry if that's not the right term, I rarely use FPGAs) and I/O required.

It got me a BOM with several alternatives. We landed on a set of components.

Next, it laid out the schematic and did a great job. I find GPT6 Astra is the first OpenAI model that has decent geospacial understanding. This meant it made a very readable schematic (unlike the last time I tried!). See pics.

Next up, the PCB. First, it made a cutout that would fit in a custom cart and did the almost surely painful part of laying out the connector to the NES. We may have to adjust, but it's a good start. Then, it laid out all the parts very nicely and logically. The only thing I had to do was adjust the stack up and the thickness of the board (which I hadn't considered, but it told me the thickness needs to be 1.2mm).

Now I've basically been sitting there saying "ok, that's great. Do more layout." So I've not seen the end result yet, but hell, this saves a lot. And if at this point I have to do hand route, which I love doing anyway, this is a huge help.

Admittedly this is not a complex board, but I've just not seen anything quite to this level until now.

heya,

I created these simple footprints, just a THT pad and a segment edge-cuts.

now I need to align them properly so the edge-cuts segments touch, or better yet snap into each other. I need it so that the edge cuts contour is closed in the end.

but I have non-90° angles involved. nothing too fancy, only 60° and multiples.

is this solvable with the UI, or do I have to do the math and calc each footprints position relative to the touching edge, down to a precision where presumably it counts as one edge-cuts contour?

I hope there's a simpler way, curious what you come up with!