Starting Your Project
If you're reading this than you've probably just finished building your continuity tester or your waiting to get your board back. Either way this is an excellent time to get started on your own project. By now you're either thinking about what kind of project you should do or you're considering whether or not your project will work.
Before You Start
Before you jump into things, we have to go over some basic things. First rule when designing a board, measure twice! If you screw up your measurement and send out your design, there is no going back. Unfortunately there's no undo button in life. The second thing you should keep in mind is by the time you get the board, you really have only one chance at getting it right. If something blows up or burns out, by the time you have those components ordered again and shipped over, the deadline will most likely have gone by. Order your components early so you can test them out.
Build Your Project Before the Board
As odd as it may sound, build your project before the board design is sent out. Whether you're just connecting the components directly with wires, using a bread board or a board with isolated metal pads, test out your design. 90% of all failures result on the assumption that everything will work on the first try; rarely is it a case of making project too complex. Even the most basic of designs are prone to failure.
At the same time I must warn those with a large scale design, don't test everything at once. I attempted to do so with mine and as you can see below, the results weren't that great. If it's a big project, start small, it's more headaches than it's worth
Measuring Your Components
When you create your design it's critical that you measure your components accurately. They are three critical measurements to take, the pitch (distance between leads next to each other), lead width and the distance between leads on opposite ends (if the component has leads on more than one side). Most components will specify these measurements, but in some cases you may have to measure them your self.
When creating holes, it's a good idea to add an addition .2mm from the lead width to allow the component to easily slide in.
Free Vs. 30 Day Trial
When it comes to which version of diptrace you should use, it simply depends whether or not your project is a large scale design or not. If it involves more than 200 connecting points, then it's a large scale design. If it's a large scale design then use the 30 day trial.