PCB design software for students

[Erik Nauman]

What software do people recommend for high school students to design simple PCBs? We have a Carvey that can mill boards and I have taught this workflow: Tinkercad for breadboard layout > Eagle for board layout > Carbide Copper 3D website to generate gcode > import gcode to Easel and mill.

My problem is the free version of Eagle gives you really small real estate to work with and I have tried unsuccessfully to get the full version with an education account. Kicad seems good on PC but on Mac it doesn't install properly in my experience.

Any other PCB design software I should try?

Thanks,

Erik

[Erik Nauman]

I just tried out EasyEDA and now have my answer. I didn't have to use any tutorials, parts are relatively easy to find, design tools are fairly straightforward, I think this is the best tool for students to design PCBs with.

[nikil...@gmail.com]

Yea that was what I would suggest as well. KiCAD and Eagle have horrible UX (well most of them do). Altium and others can be expensive. Altium has a good parts library from Octopart and Upverter but its UI can be overwhelming. 

If you run into a wall with EasyEDA try Upverter (also online and free).

Please keep me updated!

What are your students designing?

I wrote a "design your own Arduino" project for the University microcontrollers course I was the head TA for, and honestly the circuit is not too complicated. 

A friend of mine made his own Arduino PCB while he was still in high school, so definitely can be done. 

[nikil...@gmail.com]

Tbh I personally wouldn't mill circuit boards. It's not super representative of real-world boards. Quality is meh

Honestly I would just PCBway. One kid can get 5 copies of their board for about $35. You can bulk order for the class too and it would be cheaper because everything can ship in 1 box. Downside is you have to wait a week or two for the results.

Alternatively, I'm working on a tool that allows kids to make their own board using the same SMD components. Allows for more instantaneous feedback. Here's the prototype of it: https://devpost.com/software/circuit-2-0

Lmk if you would want to test it and give me feedback? 

[Lizabeth Arum]

Are you using Autodesk Eagle?

[Eric Schneider]

Something you might be interested in... www.Patchr.io. 

We offer a complete out of the box experience for teachers and students to learn PCB/Electronics design. We source all the components, manufacture your students PCBs and ship them to you in less than a week. Each lesson builds off the last, enabling truly impactful learning of technical skills. The software itself will test the students as well as provide feedback through circuit verification ensuring every students design and assemble a fully functioning custom PCB, every time. 

We are hosting a free webinar on August 31st if you are interested in learning more: https://mailchi.mp/patchr/webinar