Development Board

This is a short description about building a development or benchmark board.

The minimal knowledge required for this project is soldering, understanding schematics and basic knowledge about electrical components.

Usually the purpose of a electronic board is to test, to learn or prototype for production. That means it can be a benchmark or a development or just a having fun board. This will decide the purpose of the board you are about to build.

Before you begin I would recommend based on the purpose of the board and on the schematics found on internet to decide what components you will require and their values based on producer's datasheet.

The board I posted is a simple development board that will program and test a microchip microcontroller. It can be used as a benchmark adding few components to it with the help of a breadboard like a motor controller and a voltage regulator like the lm317t as seen in photo.

The microcontroller is powered itself by a pickit programmer thanks to the 6 male pins connector. Then you will ask why would you require extra power if the microcontroller is already powered. As the datasheet says, it can provide about maximum 200 mA per pin, so sometimes it might not be enough.

Since some components like transistors or leds require more power, it is required to keep that in mind.

There are 2 types of components from the point of view of the soldering: THT or SMD. I recommend that you will use THT components. Using SMD components might require the use of a software like KiCad and a more complex manufacturing process for the board.

After you decide what will be on the list of components and found schematics on internet about how to connect each one, it's time to go further.

Now that you have the list of components, place them on the board and solder them. you may use wires like i used in the photo above.

On page 2 the datasheet I attached you may see what pins must be wired. In case you wish to use special functions like ad converters it is recommended to respect datasheet's recommendations like the one on page 33.

Also, in case you require an oscillator you must consider the datasheet. I usually use the internal oscillator like the board I made, if I do not require special values. I can add it later for instance with the help of a breadboard.

And finally you need to test it.

In case you have to solder SMD components on the board, you may use for instance as I showed above, between 2 THT pins, or you may also use wires.

In the end following the above steps you will find yourself with a THT board that can be expended with a breadboard to test projects based on a microcontroller.

There are also projects that test or include logic ic or soc boards. Some have io connections, some have only leds and buttons and microcontrollers, depending on the requirement and wish.

So first find out what the board is supposed to do, then the required components and their values and the schematics that connect the components. You may and I strongly suggest to test first the scheme on a breadboard to make sure you don't have to solder twice the board. And that is it. Also, keep in mind the expansion, like I did with the breadboard example.