In this tutorial you will learn step by step how to use Ultiboard to route and make a single-layer Printed Circuit Board layout that you can print out on paper. Finally, you will learn with demo videos a very inexpensive DIY method for transferring your layout to a Copper Clad board that you can etch and solder manually. No heat transfer is involved.
After reading and completing the simple demo projects in this book, you will learn many features of Ultiboard very fast and very effectively without getting overwhelmed. You will not need to export any files or send Gerbers to a PCB manufacturer/fabricator.
We will be using the National Instruments’ Ultiboard and Multism PCB Design suite, which I found to be the best among several others I have used. Any of the versions 12, 13 and 14 of this suite works perfectly well. There is a link in Chapter 11 of this book for you to download a hassle-free trial version of the suite that you can use for many days to learn and practice many projects of your own.
Merely having the Ultiboard user manual, or referring to its help contents, is far from sufficient in becoming a skillful PCB designer. Therefore, this book is extremely useful for building PCB design skills very fast.
First, it will give you a big head start if you have never designed a PCB layout before. Then it will teach you more advanced techniques you need to learn, design and build anything from simple to complex PCB layouts using only Ultiboard.
Finally, if you have questions or need further help, I urge you to use the support link I provided in the last Chapter of this book. I will get back to you very quickly.
