Justin Yu
After working on numerous personal and class projects, I consistently encountered challenges with wire organization and the arrangement of components like compartments, slots, and mounting plates. These tasks were often tedious and inefficient. This realization led me to ponder the idea of creating a multipurpose PCB that could be adapted for all my projects. Motivated by this idea, I spent this past winter break designing such a PCB, aiming to streamline the setup process for all my future projects. Without free educational licenses for Altium Designer, I proceeded with this design using KiCAD!
I aimed to design versatile PCB in KiCAD, optimizing compactibility at 126mm x 54mm, which supports both ESP32 and Arduino Nano. It efficiently manages multiple motors—two stepper motors, two brush DC motors, and four servo motors—including a rotary encoder for precise control. The board features advanced power management from multiple sources with voltage regulation and incorporates protective measures like flyback diodes to shield against voltage spikes. Additionally, it's optimized for I²C communication up to 400 kHz, ensuring robust data handling and supporting varied input voltages from 5–24V with up to 2A output per motor channel. I plan to continuously update this project, making improvements and adjustments as necessary along the way.
• Finding the most efficient component and plane layouts
• Research on avaliable components and proper specifications
• Debugging between schematic and footprint editor
• More practice with PCB Design
• More practice with ECAD softwares
• Better organization of connections and components
by Justin Yu