Building a Circuit on a Strip Port: A Simple yet Challenging Project

Building a circuit on a strip port can be simple, like a basic LED blink circuit, but it can also become complex and confusing when dealing with an analog color organ. For example, CharlieFlex's LED matrix on Arduino Color Organ Shield with the MSG q7 produces professional PCB boards with multiple layers, which is expensive and unnecessary if you only need one or two boards. In this video, we will show you how to use Eagle, a laser printer, and an iron to create your own single-layer PCBs.

Choosing a Circuit to Demonstrate the Technique

To demonstrate the technique of building a circuit on a strip port, we have chosen a simple yet useful circuit: dinner LED strips with PWM. Before starting, let's take a look at our parts. They may seem unremarkable, but we will use them to show you how to create your own PCBs. It is also important to note that having the datasheet for the parts can help you understand their specifications and sizes.

Getting Started with Eagle

To start building our circuit, we need to download the Eagle software from the side of the program. The good news is that it's free, as long as you don't plan to sell the PCBs you create. Once the software is downloaded, we can start creating a new schematic and a file for two teapots. This may seem like an actual part in real life, but it's just a representation of our components.

Understanding Component Spacing

When working with Eagle, understanding the spacing between pins is crucial. Different components have different pin spacings, so it's essential to choose the correct ones. Even if we choose the wrong spacing, we can still bend the legs later and make them fit. However, when dealing with potentiometers, it can be a bit more challenging.

Working with Potentiometers

When working with potentiometers, the hard part is finding the right one that fits our circuit. In this case, I will go with this particular potentiometer, which should have a fine spacing. Plus, there are 11 MOSFETs in the database, so it's nice to know that we can choose from different options.

Connecting Components Correctly

Once we have all our components and understand their spacings, we need to connect them correctly. It may seem like a straightforward task, but it's not always easy. We need to ensure that all our connections are correct, including the junction dots at the end of each component. I like to pull on my parts gently to see if they're connected correctly.

Creating the PCB

With all our components connected correctly, we can start creating the PCB. This is an easy task, as we just place the components on the PCB in a way that makes sense for our circuit. We need to ensure that each component is close to the next one it needs to connect to. It may take some time to get this right, but it's all part of practicing.

Routing and Tracing

Once we have all our components placed correctly, we can move on to routing and tracing. This means connecting two pins with a copper trace, which could be done manually if we wanted to build a maze. However, we're going to use the auto-router for this task, except for one power trace for the LED strip. We want this trace to be able to carry 2 amps later, so we'll need to calculate the correct width using a trace-width calculator. In this case, we'll use a board with a 35mm copper layer and choose a width of 0.78 mm.

Printing the PCB

With all our routing and tracing done, we can print out our PCB. This is an easy task, as we just press our parts onto paper to see if they fit later. Everything seems good so far, but we need to make sure that our traces are not too close together. If they are, we'll need to adjust the distance between them.

Conclusion

Building a circuit on a strip port can be simple yet challenging, especially when dealing with an analog color organ. In this video, we demonstrated how to use Eagle, a laser printer, and an iron to create your own single-layer PCBs. We chose a simple yet useful circuit: dinner LED strips with PWM. By following these steps, you should be able to create your own PCBs and build your own projects.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enbuilding a circuit on a strip port can be simple like this LED blink circuits but it can be really complex and confusing with an analog colour organ a Charlie flexed LED matrix on Arduino color organ shield with the MSG q7 producing professional PCB boards with multiple layers is expensive and has absolutely no sense if you only need one or two boards so in this video I will show you how to use Eagle a laser printer and an iron to make your own single layer PCBs I'm going to choose a useful and simple circuit to demonstrate the technique I bet you all recognize the schematic it is a circuit to dinner LED strip with pwm at first we have to take a look at our parts here they are nothing spectacular but I'm going to use those two terminals to connect power and the LED strip it is also useful to have the datasheet for the parts to find out how big they are but a good old ruler can help sometimes first of all we need the ego software head over to the side and download it it is free as long as you don't plan to sell the PCBs you make I start the software and create a new schematic and here's file for two teapots this time departs to really need to represent an actual part in real life let's start with the I see any 5x5 here on the right side you can see it is a dip package and not SMD so it is correct for the other parts like resistors and capacitors I have to know the spacing between the pins to choose the correct ones but even if we chose the wrong spacing we could still bend the legs later and make it fit the hard part is the potentiometer I think I will go with this one yeah spacing should fit fine plus 11 MOSFET exists in the database that's nice no worries here and for the terminals those Vargo terminals it looks like the spacing should work fine now that we've got all parts we have to connect them correctly just like in the schematic and don't forget the junction dots in the end I like to pull on my parts like this to see whether they are all connected how they are supposed to and here forgot to connect it now we create the boards and here is an easy task just place the components on the PCB how you feel like it no not really place them the way that they are close to the next part they have to connect to it takes some time to get this right but it is all just a matter of practice now the routing which just means connecting two pins with a cooper trace we could place all the traces by ourselves and build a maze but we are lazy so we are going to use the auto router except for one power trace for the LED strip I want this trace to be able to carry two amps later so I use a trace width calculator I will use a board with a 35 millimeter Cooper layer and want two amps now it spits out width of 0.78 one millimeters and when we convert it to inches it is 0.03 inches I chose 0.03 2 inches in Eagle and draw my power line for the LED strip according to my schematic from plus terminal to plus terminal of the strip the negative LED strip terminal to drain and source to negative power terminal now we can use the outer router for the rest deactivate the top layer and go that looks good but those traces are a bit close to each other let's fix this in a design move by changing the distance here outer out again and nice small signature here and we are done now let's print a just like that on paper we can just press our parts in the paper and see whether all parts will fit later and everything seems good so far so good this was the Eagle design part it really isn't how to use this program so go ahead and try it yourself I will show you how to bring this design to your Cooper layout in the next part I hope you like this project so far if so don't forget to like stay creative and I will see you in a week with part 2building a circuit on a strip port can be simple like this LED blink circuits but it can be really complex and confusing with an analog colour organ a Charlie flexed LED matrix on Arduino color organ shield with the MSG q7 producing professional PCB boards with multiple layers is expensive and has absolutely no sense if you only need one or two boards so in this video I will show you how to use Eagle a laser printer and an iron to make your own single layer PCBs I'm going to choose a useful and simple circuit to demonstrate the technique I bet you all recognize the schematic it is a circuit to dinner LED strip with pwm at first we have to take a look at our parts here they are nothing spectacular but I'm going to use those two terminals to connect power and the LED strip it is also useful to have the datasheet for the parts to find out how big they are but a good old ruler can help sometimes first of all we need the ego software head over to the side and download it it is free as long as you don't plan to sell the PCBs you make I start the software and create a new schematic and here's file for two teapots this time departs to really need to represent an actual part in real life let's start with the I see any 5x5 here on the right side you can see it is a dip package and not SMD so it is correct for the other parts like resistors and capacitors I have to know the spacing between the pins to choose the correct ones but even if we chose the wrong spacing we could still bend the legs later and make it fit the hard part is the potentiometer I think I will go with this one yeah spacing should fit fine plus 11 MOSFET exists in the database that's nice no worries here and for the terminals those Vargo terminals it looks like the spacing should work fine now that we've got all parts we have to connect them correctly just like in the schematic and don't forget the junction dots in the end I like to pull on my parts like this to see whether they are all connected how they are supposed to and here forgot to connect it now we create the boards and here is an easy task just place the components on the PCB how you feel like it no not really place them the way that they are close to the next part they have to connect to it takes some time to get this right but it is all just a matter of practice now the routing which just means connecting two pins with a cooper trace we could place all the traces by ourselves and build a maze but we are lazy so we are going to use the auto router except for one power trace for the LED strip I want this trace to be able to carry two amps later so I use a trace width calculator I will use a board with a 35 millimeter Cooper layer and want two amps now it spits out width of 0.78 one millimeters and when we convert it to inches it is 0.03 inches I chose 0.03 2 inches in Eagle and draw my power line for the LED strip according to my schematic from plus terminal to plus terminal of the strip the negative LED strip terminal to drain and source to negative power terminal now we can use the outer router for the rest deactivate the top layer and go that looks good but those traces are a bit close to each other let's fix this in a design move by changing the distance here outer out again and nice small signature here and we are done now let's print a just like that on paper we can just press our parts in the paper and see whether all parts will fit later and everything seems good so far so good this was the Eagle design part it really isn't how to use this program so go ahead and try it yourself I will show you how to bring this design to your Cooper layout in the next part I hope you like this project so far if so don't forget to like stay creative and I will see you in a week with part 2