| The timing could not be more perfect. Yesterday I realized that I need to create my very first PCB to repair and smartify a device that I broke. Today I thought I should use ChatGPT to better understand how things work. And now this. There are a lot of space constraints so first thing is figuring out if it is even possible to build as small as needed. Usually I would probably be better off starting to build big first and then scale down. But I feel confident that I can already get quite far with the amazing resources out there. I spent hours watching videos about soldering, PCB design, some of the components I think I would need (very flat flexible cables, small ESP32 SMD, no space for USB) and then how to start actually doing the work. My last exposure to electronics was in grade 8 and that was very heavy on cables. This 3h video here was very helpful to understand the process. It's an overview of building your own ESP32 dev board with EasyEDA from start to finish: https://youtu.be/S_p0YV-JlfU I like these top-down big picture kind of things that go over everything in just enough detail to know what to search for. Does something like this but with flux.ai exist for complete beginners? The tutorials seem more focused on users switching over from other PCB design tools. Every step of the way I am just amazed how today I can get physical things custom made and shipped within days. And then there's fun videos like this here: Small scale fully automated PCB production in what is basically a garage -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH6ljHUx_IM&t=800s |