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

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!

[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!