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<p>Making electrical-artistic and electrical-mechanical PCBs adds steps and complications to the usual PCB fabrication process. In this talk I will go over my project workflow and discuss how and why I do each step. I will also discuss problems I have run into during both the design and the manufacturing process.</p>
<p>An overview of my workflow is as follows:<p>
<ul>
<li>Make a sketch of what the final PCB will look like and what it will do.
<li>Make a schematic of the electronics (kicad).
<li>Assign footprints to the electrical components (kicad).
<li>Check the manufacturers webpage for the design criterion on internal cuts.
<li>Create a CAD file of the PCB outline (no electrical connections) (fusion 360/solidworks etc).
<li> (optional) Conduct multiphysics simulations of the PCB outline, to find an optimal design (comsol etc).
<li>Make boxes to represent the footprints of the electrical components and place these where you want them to be on the final PCB (fusion 360/solidworks etc).
<li>Think about how the boards will be panelized and insert mouse bites/tabs for V-cuts as needed (fusion 360/solidworks etc).
<li>Export a 2D drawing of the PCB including the components.
<li>Make a PCB file with all the components (kicad).
<li>Import the 2D drawing of the PCB as the edge cuts in the PCB file (kicad).
<li>Place electrical components in the correct location and delete the edge cuts which are just being used as markers (kicad).
<li>Use a routing software to connect components or connect these manually.
<li>(optional) Panelize the boards by making a new PCB file and importing the single PCB.
<li>Export the gerber files.
<li>Check that the outlines are correct in the gerber files and clean up machining code if necessary.
<li>Upload files to manufacturers webpage and include an image of which places should be milled out.
</ul>
<p>Common problems have included:</p>
<ul>
<li>V-cuts on non-rectangular PCBs.
<li>Keepout zones on internal edge-cuts.
<li>Gerber file generation errors caused by internal edge cuts and pannelization.
<li>Some manufacturers do not do internal edge cuts.
<li>Boards are mechanically weakened by internal cuts.
</ul>
English: Finished