How to wire two sided PCB Boards

[PIC12F675]

I have been using Eagle software to make single sided boards (thru holes), always with a few jumpers. So the next design I made a double sided board. After etching it everything came out fine, so I started mounting and soldering all the components on.

With single sided boards I run the wire on the top side thru the holes and solder to the trace on the bottom.

Making the double sided board, to connect the top trace to the bottom trace thru the via hole I had to solder a small bit wire to both sides of the hole, ended up being twice the solder work vs. using wire and soldering one side.

Am I missing something to make this easier?

p.s. how do you configure the eagle auto routing to most of the traces on the bottom side?

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,

For home made pcb's I don't know of an easier or cheaper way of connecting the tracks on either face of the pcb, other than the method you are using.

The tip I would give, if your'e not already doing it, is use say 22 or 24 swg tinned copper wire, cut it over length, say, 2cm long.

Have a small square of polystyrene on your bench, about 120mm square, poke the end of your linking wire into the poly and clip the wire to about 2cm long, repeat this, so you finish up with a 'hedgehog' of precut wire links.

Insert the link half way thru the pcb, bend the two projecting wires in opposite directions as close as possible to the pcb, to an angle of about 45 degrees. So the link stays in place, as you handle and move the pcb around.

Rest the pcb on a upturned box or plastic container, so that the pcb rests on the upturned edges of the box.
You should be able to insert and bend all the link thru wires, one at a time, into the pcb without them falling out.

Then solder all the links on one side of the pcb , turn it over and do all the others, then clip off the excess wires.

What I'm saying is, if you cant find a easier way of doing an individual link, improve the way you insert all the links.

Sorry cant help with Eagle, I dont use it.

EricG

 

[mvs sarma]

Hi
earlier they were using tubularcopper rivets-- a more painfull work-- So far as component holes are concerned you can solder on both sides. only thro' holes are to be bridged with a wire..
even though painful, you can achieve equal track lengths etc and bottom can be used as ground plane in case of RF-

 

[3v0]

I use wires the same size as the drill hole. I flatten one end with the pliers and drop the wire into the hole. This keeps the wire from falling through. I am sure the bending method is faster.

 

[evandude]

in the autorouter options, it has a couple drop-down boxes to choose the preferred direction for top and bottom layers. In there, you can just set the top layer to N/A and it will only route on the bottom layer, and in many cases that means it will end up with a few wires unrouted, which you can then manually turn into jumpers. It will probably also do some very stupid routing on the bottom layer, trying to route every possible trace even if it means running crazy all across the board, so you should use your judgement and rip up certain wires and make them jumpers instead.

The most important element is of course YOU - the autorouter is far from perfect, as we all know, so you should always expect to do some manual routing. Many people (myself included) don't use the autorouter at all - half the problem with routing a PCB is intelligent component positioning, and when you do your routing manually, you can simultaneously position traces AND components for the best layout. I can't even imagine a board (at least within the size limitations of the free version of eagle) where the autorouter would save me a significant amount of time...

Whatever you choose, I would think that the few extra seconds it takes to solder a wire link on both sides of a board should be the least of your worries, especially when compared to the amount of time you spend designing, etching, and drilling the board in the first place... If you really hate doing it, and/or your boards have way too many vias for it to be practical, then perhaps you ought to be getting your boards made professionally with plated-through holes instead.

 

[mvs sarma]

...........
The most important element is of course YOU - the autorouter is far from perfect, as we all know, so you should always expect to do some manual routing. Many people (myself included) don't use the autorouter at all - half the problem with routing a PCB is intelligent component positioning, and when you do your routing manually, .............

I totally agree with you. None of the packages can beat humanbrain. only advantage is its spped and time saving. i also feel auto routing , more depends of intelligent placement of components. As you rightly said. with little more patience, you get an optimum layout , when done manually.