RETRO CLOCK RADIO V 2.1

This is a follow-up on my Retro Radio Clock Instructable where I said for the future I would create a Custom PCB for my project. Now that I am finally finished with my design, I thought I would share a guide to help other makers just starting out on making their own custom PCBs for their project. It's really liberating when you're no longer limited to some flimsy prototype and now have something that was built to your specifications to meet your needs. So I hope you enjoy reading guide and it helps you on your maker journey ^^

While this isn't exactly a tutorial on soldering 101, I can share with you the tools I think are quite standard to have as part of a soldering workstation.

1. Weller WE 1010 (T0053298393) 70W/230V Digital Soldering Station Limited Edition 80th Anniversary with Gift Soldering Tip
2. Soldering Wire with Flux
3. Solder Sucker Pump
4. Flux Paste
5. Tip Cleaning Brass Sponge
6. Helping Hands
7. Tweezers
8. Soldering Tip Reactivator
9. Needle-nose Pliers
10. Wire stripper and Cutter
11. Solderless Breadboard
12. Pin Headers

Full Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of these brands in any way; these are simply the tools I have on my workstation.

Most of them you can buy from any brand or online vendor, but I do recommend getting a good soldering station, and brands like Weller are tried and tested and highly recommended by PCB designers and hobbyists. Having a soldering wire with a rosin core (aka flux) makes your soldering experience stress-free. And you'd definitely want some kind of helping hands or PCB mounting bracket to help stabilise your board as you solder components.

The other tools I have purchased, such as a solder sucker, flux paste, tweezers and so on, aid in making my job with soldering or desoldering tiny components easier.

If you need some basic tips or guidelines on soldering electronics, I would personally recommend watching Collin's Lab series of videos to get started.

So I've designed my entire PCB using KiCAD, which is a free schematic and PCB design software. I've been using it for a few years, and I would say that if you are interested in building your own PCBs for future projects, it is worth learning. I'll leave a link to a series from PCBCupid that helped me get started. I find their explanations are very clear and easy to follow, as you start getting familiar with common terminology in PCB and schematic design, as well as learn a bit about best practices. It is a bit of a learning curve, but I personally believe it is well worth the time and effort.

For those who want to get started with my design, I have uploaded all of my design files to my GitHub repository.

I partnered with PCBWay for this project, who have been very supportive and helpful throughout the entire process. I've used their services for a few of my past projects (and iterations of current projects) for a while now, and I am extremely satisfied with their service, delivery time and friendly customer support. It is a great platform for ordering PCBs, whether you're a hobbyist or a professional.

Plus, if the dimensions of your PCB are relatively small (100 x 100 cm), you can place an order for five PCB boards for as little as 5 dollars USD. Shipping options are also quite varied and flexible, so you can take advantage of them to meet your needs with respect to time and budget. And if you find the process of ordering your first PCB daunting, once you create your account, you can message your sales rep, who will happily guide you through the process based on your requirements.

Pro tip: In KiCAD, you can use the PCBWay Plug-in for KiCad that allows users to send their PCB layouts directly to PCBWay for production with just one click, simplifying the process of ordering PCBs.

I have had an extremely pleasant experience working with PCBWay and using their services, and I plan to continue working with them for future projects. So I highly recommend checking them out.

Now that you have your PCB in hand, it's time to start soldering. I wanted to keep it simple and the option to swap out parts in case something wasn't working, so I soldered male and female pin headers to my board as seen in the photo. Since I designed my PCB with labels everywhere, it was relatively easy to just drop in the components in the correct places. You can see in the second photo all the components connected. I really recommend taking your time here with soldering if you are new and going through tutorials on YouTube to guide you through the process. There's plenty of helpful stuff online, so you don't have to be scared :)

After assembling all the components, here's a demo of my updated clock radio.

Note there is some noise coming out of the 3W speakers, which also aren't the best. Hence, I am also opting for a chassis design that lets me connect the radio to an external speaker for clearer audio, as demonstrated in the second video.

Here's a GitHub link to my 3D CAD files used to print a case. I kept the design relatively simple with big slots to allow for conenction to externals peripherals such as speakers and power cables.

And here is a final demonstration of everything assembled and working as intended. I had a lot of fun and learned a great deal throughout this creative venture. For the future, I fully intend to improve the design of the electronics, PCB and chassis to make it smaller, lighter and more ergonomic while also being aesthetically pleasing. Follow to stay updated <3