PCB newbie's first design.

Community PCB Design
1

I know you guys probably deal with this every day, but I just finished a design for a PCB. I read through a couple of tutorials regarding PCB creation with Eagle (notably the Sparkfun one) and learned a lot. I was wondering if has free time if they would give it a quick look over for obvious problems.

I think I’ve nailed the main points, but was wondering if there might be issues with my CAM files.

I’ve tried to stay far away from the minimum trace width and drill size. My traces are 16mil or wider and my vias are 20mil or larger. There are a couple spots where I get close to minimum (pour?) spacing, but they look greater than 8mil and DRC check doesn’t note them.

I plan on getting a 155 inch^2 panel of these boards from Golden Phoenix. If I understand correctly, I should be able to just submit these CAM files, and they will work their magic and return 155 inch^2 worth of separate boards.

The drill file is 2, 4 “normal”.

Thanks for your time.

2

Not bad for a first time. Just a few suggestions:

  • I would make the power and ground traces a bit fatter; you are looking for a nice low-impedance connection to keep the power stable.

  • Try to have traces connect to pads (especially the oval ones) straight in to the end or the side; connecting at an acute angle can create an “acid trap”.

  • Add another decoupling cap on the AVR, and one on the '126; the general rule of thumb is one per power pin, close to the part.

  • Add a 6-pin ISP header to make it easier to connect your programmer to the board

  • Is there enough space between the two connectors on the right for the mating plugs to fit without hitting each other?

  • You can clean things up a bit under the '126 if you eliminate the left via, and move the right via out of under the chip. That way, you can get rid of those 90-degree bends there.

/mike