KiCad Like a Pro, 5th edition

Learn to design and manufacture PCBs with KiCad 10.

A four-volume book and four video courses that take you from your very first board to high-speed design. It is built on KiCad 10, and I am writing it in the open.

Get the beta Read a free sample

Volumes 1 and 2 of the book are ready now, and work on the first video course has started. If you are interested in the video course, keep an eye on this website, and consider subscribing to the Tech Explorations email list so you will receive my updates.

KiCad Like a Pro, 5th edition — book cover

This is a work in progress, and that is the point

I am writing the 5th edition in the open. Volumes 1 and 2 are complete and published for early adopters. Volumes 3 and 4 are planned, and both now have their full chapter lists published.

When you buy today, you get Volumes 1 and 2 in full plus early access to the remaining volumes as they grow, and you lock in today's price. Every volume I finish, and every update I make, arrives in your account at no extra cost. As an early adopter you also get access to the book's community space, at the Community Tier level, and you keep it for the life of the 5th edition.

While I am still writing the book, you read it online, inside your Tech Explorations account. It will look like a course in there, that's simply how the reading platform is built, but it holds your copy of the book, growing volume by volume as I complete it. Downloadable PDF and EPUB copies arrive once every volume is complete. See the full FAQ if you have questions about buying or reading.

Work on the video courses has also begun: Course 1 is fully recorded, and the lectures are now being edited. See the book and video course status page for the latest progress on every volume and every course.

You will not just read about PCBs, you will make them

Two real boards by the end of Volume 1

This is a project book. You design two real boards, a breadboard power supply and a tiny solar power supply, produce their manufacturing files (the 'Gerbers' and a bill of materials), and know exactly how to send them to a fabricator and get them back in your hands.

Breadboard power supply — KiCad layout editor, fully routed board — Breadboard PSU — layout editor

Breadboard power supply — Gerber file preview ready for fabrication — Breadboard PSU — Gerber preview

Tiny solar power supply — 3D board render of the assembled PCB — Tiny solar PSU — 3D board render

Tiny solar power supply — KiCad layout editor with routed tracks and zones — Tiny solar PSU — layout editor

Then you level up in Volume 2

Real boards with custom parts, copper zones and manufacturing know-how

Volume 2 is where you stop depending on somebody else having drawn your parts. You build a custom symbol and footprint from a datasheet, set up a board properly, pour controlled copper zones, then design a warm-up LED matrix and a capstone DRV8833 dual H-bridge motor driver. You finish with manufacturing files and two ways to assemble the board.