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akscr.bsky.social

@akscr.bsky.social

akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I assembled the first board. However, when I started placing components, I immediately discovered a problem: a footprint for an RGB surface mount LED was mirrored - I made a mistake when I created this footprint. So, I left it unpopulated.

SMD components have been soldered on the first board except for D1 because it has an incorrect footprint and the through-hole connector which would be soldered manually.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I got this beautiful board manufactured by @aisler.net! So, now let's move on to the assembly process!

The front side of the PCB panel with two same boards. The front side contains almost all components which are SMD ones.

The back side of the PCB panel with two boards. It contains only one through hole connector component.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I have assembled and done some initial testing of the PCB I ordered from @aisler.net. This is the main board of a battery powered BLE compact touchpad.

The front side of the PCB where the most of the components are placed, such as a power management chip nPM1300 PMIC, a BLE module MDBT42Q-512KV2 with nRF52832, an LFXO crystal, a USB-C port, several switch buttons, two connectors and a bunch of passives.

The back side of the PCB where only the LEDs are placed. These LEDs were hand soldered.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I'm working on a small PCB which features a BLE module, a USB-C port, a power management chip (PMIC), some buttons and a couple of connectors: one for connecting a touchpad and one for a rechargeable battery. @kicad.org is a very convenient EDA! #KiCad

The PCB layout in the KiCad PCB Editor showing the top-most layer.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

In KiCad you can organize your schematics in a hierarchy. This allows to abstract out components, define clear interfaces and connect them on a higher level in a top-level sheet, while keeping details of every component in their separate subsheets. #KiCad

A hierarchical schematic which consists from a top-level sheet which has three subsheets - one for each component. These subsheets are connected through hierarchical labels and buses.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

@aisler.net, why can't I order electronic components (Simple Simply) from the same project from which I ordered PCBs (Beautiful Boards)? The form says that the service is not available for the current project (created by Push for KiCad) and I must create a separate electronic components project.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I following the following guidelines when routing traces for the 32.768 kHz oscillator crystal circuit when designing a PCB: place the crystal and external capacitors as close as possible to the pins, keep routes short, have a separate local ground plane and a guard ring.

The section of the schematic with a circuit of the 32.768 kHz crystal oscillator and matching external capacitors.

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akscr.bsky.social @akscr.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Starting a new PCB project 🧵 I’m designing a portable device with a display and wireless connectivity, with navigation as the long-term goal. This is my first time building something like this from scratch, so I’ll share the progress and lessons learned along the way.

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