topic PCB trace width settings for DIY etching in Fusion 360 in Fusion Electronics Forum

PCB trace width settings for DIY etching in Fusion 360

jrumpels — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 17:51:24 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm new to PCB design and - after having prepared a few boards that I sent for manufacturing, I m trying to create a first board that I'll etch at home for prototyping. My purpose is to to have wider traces (around 0.5mm or 20mil) and larger clearances to make the process more forgiving.

I tried setting these values in the Design Rules (Electrical -> Routing -> Width and Electrical -> Routing -> Clearance), but when I run the autorouter, I get error messages and it was unable to complete the routing. I neither succeded in using an Arrange Components or similar feature hoping it would help, but the result wasn't very useful.

The ideal solution would be to have a trace width and a clearance of 0.5mm.

Is there a specific way to arrange components that works better for these settings?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Best regards,

Re: PCB trace width settings for DIY etching in Fusion 360

jorge_garcia — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 18:15:50 GMT

Hello @jrumpels ,

What types of components are you using? Large widths and clearances are feasible with through hole components, if you are using surface mount components that could likely be the reason why the autorouter can't finish. Home etching can be fun but I personally found it to be more trouble than it's worth after a few PCBs, YMMV.

I've seen users reliably achieve 12/12 (min_width/min_clearance) PCBs, some can do much better, but 12/12 I think is a good starting expectation.

Make sure to double check any errors you may have on the design. The autorouter will not route something if it would create errors. So pre-existing errors will limit what the autorouter can do.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

Re: PCB trace width settings for DIY etching in Fusion 360

jrumpels — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:50:49 GMT

@jorge_garcia

Thanks, I use through hole componenst, something simple like 4 MOSFETS, 4 flyback diodes, 8 resistors, but wanted to avoid to use perfboard.

Re: PCB trace width settings for DIY etching in Fusion 360

CGBenner — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:57:14 GMT

@jrumpels

Hello, do you still need help with this question?