PCB Christmas decorations

Christmas is coming soon and you may be wanting to decorate your house but you don't want to decorate it with normal Christmas decorations when your an electronics hobbyist. In this project you will learn how to design your own PCB Christmas decoration and get it professionally manufactured.

I use Easyeda to design my PCBs as it is a free software and is easy to use. To start your design you will need to think of what you want you PCB to look like, for this tutorial I will use a bauble.

After you have thought of your design you will then need to chose what your PCB will do, for my example I used a Atmel microcontroller to display various patterns with the LEDs. The advantage of using a microcontroller is that you can change what you PCB will do in code rather than having to produce different PCBs.

You will then have to think how you will power the PCB for my designs I used a CR2032 coin cell battery but you could use a LIPO battery or even a DC power supply.

Once you have chosen what it will do and how it will be powered you will need to design a schematic in software, I chose to use Easyeda but you could use and schematic and PCB design software you chose. Build you schematic as you usually would then when you are done you will need to convert this into a PCB. on Easyeda all you need to do is click convert to PCB and then you may need to select the package of your component.

Once you have your schematic converted to a PCB you will want to make your board outline. your board outline is the design you chose at the start. I found it easiest to search for a cartoon picture and base it of that. you will need to use the shape tool in order to make your outline.

once your outline is complete you will need to place your component where you want them, for me I placed the LEDs where they needed to be then placed the IC closest to where they need to connect to. After you are happy with how you parts are laid out you will need to route the tracks. You can use the auto router for this but for my design I had to route the tracks myself as there was limited space.

Now it is time to add silkscreen, you can add the silkscreen by using the shapes tool and then you may want to add a image to the PCB by simply importing one and placing it on the board you could also add text or a logo.

Finally you are done! Just export it as a Gerber file and upload the files to a PCB manufacturing company. I recommend using PCBWay as they offer high quality PCBs at an affordable price. You can even get your Christmas PCB manufactured for free during their Christmas activity, you can try it for your self here.

My designs

Ohmega bauble

A Christmas decoration that can be hanged from your tree with LEDs that can light up in many different ways using a Atmel microcontroller. Get your manufactured here no need to upload Gerber files.

Snowman

A PCB shaped into a snowman with flashing LED eyes.

Acknowledgement

I thank PCBWay for the partnership.

PCBWay Is a cheap reliable service where you can get your PCBs manufactured. All the PCBs are high quality and the engineers are very helpful and will resolve any problems you may have quickly. Sign up today and get a $5 welcome bonus.

Website

Check out more of my other projects on my website.