@eman-abdulrauf

Setup

Read the Hack Club Hackpad guide and chose a 3-key design to learn on first.
Installed KiCad as an AppImage, with a launcher.
Added the Hack Club XIAO and SK6812 symbol libraries and the footprint library.

Schematic and PCB (KiCad)

Drew the schematic: a XIAO and three switches on D10, D9 and D8, each also going to GND.
Assigned footprints: MX switch footprints and the XIAO footprint.
Imported the parts into the PCB editor, flipped the XIAO to the back, spaced the switches 19.05 mm apart and routed all the traces.
Fixed a split ground connection.
Drew the board outline on Edge.Cuts (65 × 64 mm) and ran the DRC.

Case

Built a tray (85.8 × 84.8 mm, 13 mm tall, 3 mm floor) and a switch plate with three 14 mm holes in Onshape, after fixing the inch and millimeter problem.
Generated both parts as STEP files with a CadQuery script, then added a USB notch in the back wall.
Built one assembled hackpad.step, with a blank PCB inside, for the CAD folder.

Firmware

Wrote the KMK main.py for the three pins.

Production files and repo

Arranged the project into CAD, PCB, Firmware, production and images.
Exported the gerbers and drill files into gerbers.zip.
Took the screenshots, wrote README.md and bom.csv, and pushed everything to github.com/ema-rauf/hackpad.

Today I started my Hackpad macropad. I followed the Hack Club guide and built a simple 3-key version first, so I can learn each tool before adding a knob or LEDs.
What I did

Installed KiCad on Linux as an AppImage and made a launcher for it.
Added the Hack Club symbol and footprint libraries (XIAO and SK6812) to KiCad.
Drew the schematic: a Seeed XIAO and three switches, each wired to one pin (D10, D9 and D8) and to GND.
Assigned footprints: MX switch footprints for the three keys, and the XIAO footprint from the Hack Club library.
Opened the PCB editor, imported the parts, flipped the XIAO to the back, and spaced the switches 19.05 mm apart.
Routed all the traces and joined the ground connections.
Drew the board outline on Edge.Cuts, which came out at 65 × 64 mm.
Ran the Design Rules Checker until it showed 0 violations and nothing left unconnected.
Started the case in Onshape, so I can export a STEP file.

What went wrong

KiCad has separate library managers for symbols, footprints and design blocks, and at first I added the footprints to the wrong one. The XIAO footprint didn’t appear until I fixed that.
The checker kept reporting a missing GND connection. I had two ground wires that crossed but didn’t touch. Joining them on the back layer fixed it.
The board outline was missing until I drew it, which gave a “malformed outline” error.

What I learned

A schematic defines the connections, and the PCB is where those connections become physical copper.
The thin blue lines (ratsnest) show where a wire is still missing.
The checker is useful for finding mistakes you can’t see by eye.

Next

Finish the case in Onshape (base, switch plate, USB cutout).
Set up the firmware.
Put everything in a GitHub repo with a README and a bill of materials.

Read the guide and chose the plan: build the simple 3-key example first, then add extras (knob, LEDs, OLED) for your real submission.
Downloaded and unzipped the Hack Club KiCad libraries (kicad_care_package), then moved them to ~/kicad-libs/.
Installed KiCad as an AppImage at ~/.local/bin/kicad. It opens.
Created the KiCad project hackpad.
Placed the XIAO symbol in the schematic and hid the drawing sheet border.

today i built my first website https://ema-rauf.github.io/my-portfolio/

i am so exited this is first time i built site using guide with some AI help

today i learned about what is pcb