Complete PCB Design: From Schematic to Manufacturing (Udemy.com)

There's a moment in every maker's journey when a breadboard isn't enough any more. You want a real circuit board you can hold, use and be proud of. This course takes you there: from a blank screen to a board you can order from a manufacturer, using software that's free and runs in your browser.

You don't need expensive tools or any design experience. With a web browser and a free EasyEDA account, you'll design your own boards from scratch, learn how they're manufactured, and send your files off to be made.

Who's teaching you

I'm a Lead Hardware Engineer with 7+ years in industry. I've designed 2- and 4-layer boards that went from concept to shipping product. I built this course for new graduates, new engineers and hobbyists, so everything is explained in plain language with no assumed background and no jargon left unexplained.

How the course is built

The course follows the order you'll use in real life. First you learn what a PCB actually is. Then you design a simple board end to end, so you've seen the whole workflow once. Then you do it again properly on a real project, a relay board you could actually use, and finally you turn that board into a 4-layer design.

Section 2: PCB basics. Layers, copper, vias, pads, silkscreen, solder mask, and the design terms that make everything else click. You'll learn what each part of a board does before you start drawing one.

Section 3: your first complete board. Sixteen short, focused lectures walk you through the full EasyEDA workflow, one step at a time:

• Creating a project and finding the right parts, including searching the LCSC parts library

• Drawing a clean schematic and converting it into a board layout

• Snap grid, ratlines and component placement, the step that decides whether routing is easy or painful

• Manual routing, vias and when to let the auto-router help

• Mounting holes, cut-outs, copper pour, text and images

• Checking your board in the 3D viewer

• Generating Gerber files and a bill of materials, the files a manufacturer actually needs

By the end of this section you've designed a complete board, schematic to Gerbers, and there's a short quiz to check you've got it.

Section 4: manufacturing. How to order your boards from an online manufacturer, and what happens to your design in the factory. Knowing the process changes how you design: why some choices are cheap and reliable and others cost you money or yield.

Section 5: a real design project, an ESP-12F (ESP8266) Wi-Fi relay board. This is where it comes together. You'll design a board that takes mains AC in, makes its own 5 V and 3.3 V supplies, and uses an ESP8266 module to switch four relays. I design it with you, explaining each decision as I make it:

• The power supply section, from AC input to a regulated 3.3 V rail

• The ESP-12F's reset, boot and serial (UART) connections, and why each resistor and button is there

• A transistor relay-driver circuit, repeated cleanly across four channels

• Laying out the board with the high-voltage side kept away from the low-voltage side, sensible track widths, and clearance where it matters

• Board outline, cut-outs, copper areas on both layers, mounting holes, silkscreen and a logo

• Design rule check, 3D view, and the files ready to order

Seeing a full design done from start to finish, with the reasoning spoken out loud, is the part most tutorials skip. It's also the fastest way to learn the judgement calls that separate a board that works from one that only looks right.

Section 6: going to 4 layers. You'll take the 2-layer board you just designed, convert it to a 4-layer stack-up, and route it. You'll see what the inner power and ground planes are for, how they change the way you route, and why so many real products use four layers.

What you'll be able to do at the end

• Read and use PCB terminology with confidence

• Draw a clear schematic for your own circuit in EasyEDA

• Place and route single-, double- and 4-layer boards

• Find real, orderable parts and footprints for your design

• Export Gerber and BOM files and order boards online

• Design with manufacturing in mind, so your boards come back working

Why EasyEDA?

It's free, it runs in the browser with nothing to install, and it connects directly to a large parts library and to low-cost online manufacturing. That makes it the quickest way to get from idea to a real board. The skills themselves (schematic capture, placement, routing, planes, design rules, Gerber output) are the same in every PCB tool. If you later move to KiCad or Altium, what you learn here carries straight over. Only the buttons change.

Is this course for you?

It's for you if you've built circuits on a breadboard and want to make them permanent, if you're a student or new engineer who needs practical PCB skills, or if you're a maker who's tired of messy protoboards. A basic grasp of electronics helps, but everything you need is explained along the way.

It's probably not for you if you already design multi-layer boards professionally. This course takes you from zero to a solid, working foundation, not into high-speed or RF design.

Common questions

Do I have to order boards to finish the course? No. You can follow every lecture without spending anything. Ordering is shown so you know exactly what to do when you're ready.

I use KiCad (or Altium). Is this still useful? Yes for the concepts, the workflow and the design decisions, which are the same in every tool. The button-by-button steps are EasyEDA's.

How much electronics do I need to know? Enough to recognise common parts like resistors, capacitors and transistors. The relay board is explained part by part, so you'll understand why each component is there, not just where it goes.

What you'll need

• A computer with a web browser and an internet connection

• A free EasyEDA account (we set it up together)

• No paid software, and nothing to buy before you start

How you'll learn

About four and a half hours of screen-recorded, step-by-step video, with English captions corrected by hand. Every section ends with a short quiz, so you can check what's stuck before you move on. If you get stuck, post in the Q&A. I read and answer the questions myself.