Published August 16, 2023

Colorful Circuit Board Artwork using PCBWay

Sharing my experience in creating unique color PCB artwork

IntermediateFull instructions provided24 hours254

Things used in this project

Hardware components

PCBWay Custom PCB

Espressif ESP32

Software apps and online services

MicroPython

Story

Introduction

In this project I will be making colorful circuit board artwork. It consists of a ESP32-S3 minimal circuit at a low price point. The circuit board also supports LEDs and an OLED display. This colorful electronics kit also supports MicroPython and is a suitable gift for students to engage them in programming and electronics education.

PCB Design & Order Process

Based on an ESP32-S3 minimal circuit, my final PCB design is of this bunny cartoon shape.

If you use KiCad, you can immediately send the PCB files directly using a single button. The file will be generated and uploaded automatically for an instant quotation.

More details on the KiCad Plug-in is written here:PCBWay Plug-In for KiCad

Confirm that the board is correct through the preview.

For the Standard PCB option, it has many options such as the color, thickness and quantity. The unique feature of PCBWay is the Yellow silkscreen available in their low cost Standard PCB service.

In this project, I decided to choose a Standard PCB with Red soldermask with yellow silkscreen. This is a 3D render of the expected product.

The price is very affordable for the level of customizability. Here you may find the final price quotation (accurate as at time of writing).

Note: If you opt for standard colors, it is only $5 for 10pcs!

PCBWay also supports more special colors that are only available in Advanced PCB. Especially the Pink/Grey/Orange/Transparent soldermask, and the Yellow/Blue/Grey silkscreen. However, take note that Advanced PCB has a custom setup fee, so a low quantity production is not wise.

These special colors are something that other PCB manufacturers do not offer as well. I decided to order the Advanced PCBWay ruler to evaluate the special soldermask colors as well.

Delivery

Overall the whole timeline can be tracked through the web interface, and with the process taking 3 days before it is passed to the delivery service.

This is how the box looks upon delivery.

After removing the wrapping, the product is shown here. Upon first inspection, the products are very shiny!

Analysis of products

In this design, it has some very sharp corners which can be a concern for manufacturing. As shown below, the arrows are pointing to the areas that are challenging to manufacture.

For example, the whiskers of the bunny have an inner diameter of 1.3mm which may cause difficulty in the manufacturing process. Thankfully, PCBWay supports a process minimum of 0.8mm milling tool diameter, so these types of requirements are well within their capabilities.

See PCBWay - PCB Milling for the parameters that are supported

In the actual PCB, the whiskers were milled out smoothly. Note that for the sharp edges, you can see that the board mill has a slight round compared to the soldermask which is in accordance with the minimum 0.8mm mill diameter.

Another interesting feature is the HASL finish. Notice the surface is very flat and has a matte texture too! Other PCB manufacturers usually have an uneven surface due to the flow of the solder.

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The rulers look beautiful with the ENIG finish. I tried my best to capture the color as close to what I see in real life.

Some things to note is that the Grey and Pink are more opaque, while the Orange is more translucent. Of course, transparent is entirely see-through and shows the full color of the FR4 base material.

To analyse the soldermask, shine a torchlight through the PCB.

On a generic Ruler by DIYMORE, the pads between the QFP pins have no solder mask, and are prone to solder bridges.
On the Advanced Rulers, notice there is the quality of soldermask separation between the QFP pins.

This is in accordance with the promised soldermask minimum allowance of ~0.2mm. For more details, see Solder mask - PCBWay

Demo of Soldered Board

For soldering of components onto the board, the bills of materials are as follows:

ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N4
WS2812B
AMS1117
C0805 100nF
R0805 100R
R0805 5k1
6MM Push Button
USB-C Connector
GC9A01 OLED

After completion, this is how the circuit board functions with the demo code as attached.

Thank you and I hope you have found my project helpful. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to learn more or if you have any suggestions on unique projects. Lastly, big thanks to PCBWay for their contribution to the development of this project and the community.

If you would like to build your own, please visit this project page to order and manufacture your very own! https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Colorful_Bunny_Circuit_Board_Artwork_89f2a15e.html

Hardware Demo Code

/**
 * [Hardware Demo Code]
 * Board: ESP32S3 Dev Module
 * Library: Adafruit_GC9A01A:1.1.1,
 *          Adafruit_NeoPixel:1.11.0
 */

#include "SPI.h"
#include "Adafruit_GFX.h"
#include "Adafruit_GC9A01A.h"
#include "Adafruit_NeoPixel.h"
#include "Fonts/FreeSerifBold12pt7b.h"
#include "Fonts/FreeSerifBold18pt7b.h"

/***** NeoPixel Library *****/
#define NEO_PIN    (45)
#define NEO_PIXELS (8)
#define NEO_MODE   (NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800)
Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels(NEO_PIXELS, NEO_PIN, NEO_MODE);

/***** GC9A01 Library *****/
#define TFT_DC   10
#define TFT_CS   11
#define TFT_SCK  12
#define TFT_MOSI 13
#define TFT_RST  14
#define TFT_MISO -1

SPIClass TFTSPI(FSPI);
Adafruit_GC9A01A tft(&TFTSPI, TFT_DC, TFT_CS, TFT_RST);

/***** User Code *****/
void setup() {
  /***** Init NeoPixel *****/
  pixels.begin();
  pixels.setBrightness(255);
  for(int i = 0; i < pixels.numPixels(); i++) { 
    uint16_t pixelHue = (65535L * 1.0 / pixels.numPixels() * i);
    pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.gamma32(pixels.ColorHSV(pixelHue, 255, 50)));
  }
  pixels.show();

  /***** Init GC9A01 *****/
  TFTSPI.begin(TFT_SCK, TFT_MISO, TFT_MOSI, TFT_CS);
  tft.begin();
  tft.setRotation(2);
}

void loop(void) {
  for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
    demo(i);
    delay(2000);
  }
}

void drawCentreString(const char *buf, int x, int y) {
  int16_t x1, y1;
  uint16_t w, h;
  tft.getTextBounds(buf, 0, 0, &x1, &y1, &w, &h); //calc width of new string
  tft.setCursor(x-w/2, y-h/2);
  tft.print(buf);
}

void demo(int variant) {
  unsigned long start = micros();

  uint16_t color1;
  uint16_t color2;
  
  if (variant == 0) {
    color1 = GC9A01A_YELLOW;
    color2 = GC9A01A_RED;
  } else if (variant == 1) {
    color1 = GC9A01A_RED;
    color2 = GC9A01A_YELLOW;
  }

  tft.setTextSize(1);
  tft.fillRect(0, 0, 240, 240/2, color1);
  tft.fillRect(0, 240/2, 240, 240/2, color2);

  tft.setTextColor(color2);
  tft.setFont(&FreeSerifBold18pt7b);
  drawCentreString("Bunny PCB", 240*0.5, 240*0.35);
  tft.setFont(&FreeSerifBold12pt7b);
  drawCentreString("Circuit Board Artwork", 240*0.5, 240*0.47);
  
  tft.setTextColor(color1);
  tft.setFont(&FreeSerifBold12pt7b);
  drawCentreString("Red & Yellow", 240*0.5, 240*0.65);
  drawCentreString("color combination", 240*0.5, 240*0.765);
  drawCentreString("with PCBWay!", 240*0.5, 240*0.88);
}

Credits

zst123

13 projects • 32 followers

An infocomm and electronics enthusiast. https://www.manzelseet.com

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Colorful Circuit Board Artwork using PCBWay

Colorful Circuit Board Artwork using PCBWay

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Introduction

PCB Design & Order Process

Delivery

Analysis of products

Demo of Soldered Board

Code

Hardware Demo Code

Credits

zst123

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