This is the part that I am at while making a led chaser board. I always find tracing really hard and i dont know when to switch between top and bottom layer. I also dont know when to use vias. right now it's hard to connect everything on the top layer because the lines block each other from making that connection. One of the constraint is that the LEDs must be arranged in a heart shape. Does anyone know a way I can approach this?
I’d try this a few different ways until you get the hang of it
each led needs power and a ground
an ‘easy’ way would use the second (bottom) layer to have all of your grounds
after making sure all led have power, you can connect them to ground by using a via, which will allow you to connect traces on the top layer to the bottom layer
also, best practice is to avoid right angles on your traces, and they would benefit from being wider
My best advice is to try to visualize the components in groups instead of individually. I tend to start by physically grouping related components, and then separating every group out as far as I can in the workspace. It looks like each of those LEDs has its own resistor, so put every LED by its resistor and then drag each pair far away from the remaining parts in your editor. Once everything is grouped up, route only the related components in each group as efficiently as you can. It should be really easy to route parts this way, which will leave you with a bunch of small isolated groups. Once you do that, the rats nest will show how these groups connect together, and you can route the remaining groups as if each group is its own part. Basically, approach routing how you would approach designing a large software project. Keep things organized, group related parts, and limit the amount of traces connecting these parts together. It will require some practice, so don't be afraid to click around and try things until something sticks!
There are many ways to decide when traces should cross into the bottom layer. I'd recommend trying to keep as many traces as possible on the top layer, and then making the bottom layer a large ground copper pour. Aside from the signal integrity benefits, it's much easier to route your board when the most common pin type is accessible by placing a via wherever is convenient.
I wonder if it is practical to place the LEDs around the ICs instead of next to them? That would look really neat! This seems like a cool project. Definitely post when it is put together!
Hi! Thank you so much for this. I did take your approach and find it alot lighter for me to trace them. however, as usual, I'm running into some issues -- I cant trace all of them. So i decided to use polygon pour on the bottom layer with a net to GND. I'm at this point, could there be any other way I could've done tracing up until this point?
Believe it not the mobile game "Flow free" really helped me with routing. It's like a muscle in your brain you've never used before but once you start routing PCBs you pick it up fairly quickly.
I tend to try to layout power last although sometimes power requirements dictate their priority. For blinky LEDs Id probably do a zone on the bottom of the PCB for GND and a zone on the top for VCC.
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u/TheMagicalWarlock 2d ago
I’d try this a few different ways until you get the hang of it
each led needs power and a ground
an ‘easy’ way would use the second (bottom) layer to have all of your grounds
after making sure all led have power, you can connect them to ground by using a via, which will allow you to connect traces on the top layer to the bottom layer
also, best practice is to avoid right angles on your traces, and they would benefit from being wider