Built in the open
Development status
Exactly where the book and the video courses stand. Drafted chapters marked "Read" are available to you now; recorded modules are marked below.
Last updated 17 October 2026 at 00:00 UTC. Honest counts, no invented percentages.
At a glance
| Book | Video Course | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Complete | Editing |
| 2 | Complete | In progress |
| 3 | Not started | Not started |
| 4 | Not started | Not started |
The book
Right now, drafted chapters are yours to read online, inside your Tech Explorations account (it's labelled as a course there, but it's your copy of the book). Downloadable PDF and EPUB copies become available once every volume above is complete. See the full FAQ.
Volume 1 — Getting Started
11 of 11 chapters available to read · 61,256 words
| # | Chapter | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What a PCB Is and How It's Made | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 2 | A Hands-On Tour: Schematic | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 3 | A Hands-On Tour: Layout | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 4 | The Concepts Behind What You Did | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 5 | The Two Workflows, Formalized | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 6 | Finding, Importing, and Managing Parts | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 7 | Editor Orientation (Just Enough) | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 8 | Project 1: Breadboard Power Supply | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 9 | Project 2: Tiny Solar Power Supply | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 10 | Getting Your Board Made | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 11 | Essential Recipes (Beginner) | Complete | Read excerpt |
| A | Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia | Complete |
Volume 2 — Real Boards: Custom Parts, Setup, and Manufacturing
11 of 11 chapters available to read · 162,092 words
| # | Chapter | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Creating Custom Symbols | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 2 | Creating Custom Footprints | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 3 | Board Setup That Matters | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 4 | Copper Zones and Fills | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 5 | Bill of Materials, In Depth | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 6 | Design for Manufacturing | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 7 | Project (Warm-up): 4×8×8 LED Matrix Array | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 8 | Project (Capstone): DRV8833 Dual H-Bridge Motor Driver | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 9 | Project (Extension): Four-Motor Driver with Two DRV8833s | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 10 | Intermediate Recipes | Complete | Read excerpt |
| 11 | Assembling the Board: Reflow or Hand Soldering | Complete | Read excerpt |
| A | Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia | Complete |
Volume 3 — Advanced Design and Extending KiCad
0 of 10 chapters available to read
| # | Chapter | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hierarchical and Multi-Sheet Schematics | Planned | |
| 2 | Version Control with Git | Planned | |
| 3 | Project: MCU Datalogger, Schematic | Planned | |
| 4 | Simulation: Checking a Circuit Before Copper | Planned | |
| 5 | Going Multi-Layer | Planned | |
| 6 | Project: MCU Datalogger, Layout Two Ways | Planned | |
| 7 | Rules as Code: the Design Rule Language | Planned | |
| 8 | Extending KiCad with Python | Planned | |
| 9 | Project: ESP32 Clone | Planned | |
| 10 | Advanced Recipes | Planned | |
| A | Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia | Planned |
Volume 4 — High-Speed PCB Design
0 of 11 chapters available to read
| # | Chapter | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When a Trace Becomes a Transmission Line | Planned | |
| 2 | The Theory You Need | Planned | |
| 3 | Stackup and Impedance: Getting to a Number | Planned | |
| 4 | Interfaces and Their Budgets | Planned | |
| 5 | Project: Schematic | Planned | |
| 6 | Board Setup and the Routing Plan | Planned | |
| 7 | Routing for Signal Integrity | Planned | |
| 8 | Verification | Planned | |
| 9 | Beyond KiCad: What the Open Tools Add | Planned | |
| 10 | Getting a High-Speed Board Made | Planned | |
| 11 | High-Speed Recipes | Planned | |
| A | Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia | Planned |
The video course
Four video courses, one for each volume. The video course and the book + video course bundle are on sale now for early adopters: one purchase gives you Course 1 now and Courses 2, 3 and 4 as I produce them. See the course page or see the prices.
Course 1 — Volume 1 of the book
Your First PCBs Editing
You design and verify three simple two-layer boards, produce the files a factory needs to make them, and understand what you did. No prior PCB experience is assumed.
Modules
- Start herecomplete
- Your first board, start to finishcomplete
- What just happenedcomplete
- Partscomplete
- Project 1: breadboard power supplycomplete
- Project 2: tiny solar power supplycomplete
- Getting it madecomplete
- Recipesediting
- Conclusionediting
Course 2 — Volume 2
Real Boards Recording
You author your own symbol and your own footprint, set a board up properly, build a real capstone, and take it through the manufacturing ladder. This is where you stop depending on somebody else having drawn your part.
Modules
- Start hererecorded
- Author a symbol
- Author a footprint
- Board setup that matters
- Copper zones
- Warm-up: LED matrix
- Capstone: DRV8833 motor driver
- Extension: four motors
- The BOM and variants
- Getting it made
- Assembly, two ways
- Recipes
- Conclusion
Course 3 — Volume 3
Advanced Design and Extending KiCad pending
You design a board that is too big to hold in your head: multiple sheets, four layers, under real version control, with the tool itself extended to do work for you.
The module list is published once Volume 3 is drafted. A course designed against a table of contents rather than a finished manuscript has to be rebuilt, so this one waits.
Course 4 — Volume 4
High-Speed PCB Design pending
You design and verify a controlled-impedance four-layer board, and you order it with impedance control. This is the theory-led course, because you cannot route a transmission line by feel.
The module list is published once Volume 4 is drafted. This course will carry the most animation in the series, because impedance, reflections, return current and skew are all invisible on a screen recording.
Changelog
- — Course 1 (Your First PCBs) editing continues: modules 1 to 7 are edited and complete, including module 7 (Getting it made), with its videos and notes uploaded. Modules 8 and 9 are still in editing. The course remains on sale for early adopters, on its own or in a bundle with the book.
- — Course 1 (Your First PCBs) is on sale for early adopters, on its own or in a bundle with the book. One course purchase gives you Course 1 now, and Courses 2, 3 and 4 as I produce them. Editing continues: modules 1 to 6 are edited and complete, including module 5 (Project 1: breadboard power supply) and module 6 (Project 2: tiny solar power supply), and modules 7 to 9 are still in editing.
- — Course 1 (Your First PCBs) editing continues: modules 1 to 4 are edited and complete, and module 5 (Project 1: breadboard power supply) is part edited, with modules 5 to 9 still in editing. Recording of Course 2 (Real Boards) has begun, and module 1 (Start here) is recorded. Neither course is on sale yet.
- — Course 1 (Your First PCBs) is now in editing. Modules 1 and 2 are edited and complete, and editing continues on modules 3 to 9. The course is not yet on sale.
- — Recording of Course 1 (Your First PCBs) is complete. All nine modules are recorded. Post-production and publishing are next, and the course is not yet on sale.
- — Video recordings for Course 1 have begun. Modules 1, 2 and 3 are recorded, and work continues on the remaining modules.
- — Price updated to €40, now that Volume 2 is complete. It will rise to €50 when Volume 3 is complete, and settle at €60 when Volume 4 is complete, the final price for the full 4-volume series.
- — Volumes 3 and 4 now have published chapter lists. Volume 3 (Advanced Design and Extending KiCad) is 10 chapters plus an appendix, built around an MCU datalogger laid out two ways; Volume 4 (High-Speed PCB Design) is 11 chapters plus an appendix, built around one controlled-impedance board. Every chapter of both is planned, not written. The video courses page is live with the drafted curriculum for all four courses, one per volume, Course 1 in production. All Volume 1 and 2 excerpts rebuilt from the current manuscripts after an edit pass across every chapter.
- — Volume 2 is complete. Chapter 10 (Intermediate Recipes) and Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia are marked complete, and chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11 are released to readers, so all 11 chapters of Volume 2 are now available to read. Volume 2 finishes at just over 162,000 words.
- — Volume 2 chapters 8 and 9 (the capstone motor-driver project and its four-motor extension) and the new chapter 11 (Assembling the Board: Reflow or Hand Soldering) marked complete, with free excerpts published for each; word counts refreshed (Volume 2 now over 162k words).
- — Volume 2 status corrections: chapter 7 (warm-up project) marked complete, matching chapters 1 to 6, with its free excerpt still published; chapter 10 back to drafting while work on it continues (its excerpt stays published).
- — Volume 2 chapter 7, the warm-up project, marked as written and a free excerpt published; chapters 8 and 9, the capstone motor-driver project and its four-motor extension, now drafting; word counts refreshed (Volume 2 now over 150k words).
- — Volume 2 chapters 1 to 6 and 10 marked as written, with new free excerpts published for each of them; Volume 1 confirmed complete; word counts refreshed (Volume 2 now just under 100k words).
- — Volume 2 chapters 1, 2, and 10 marked as written; Appendix A — Mini Encyclopedia added to Volume 1 and Volume 2; status page now shows a UTC timestamp.
- — Volume 1 marked complete and published for early adopters; price updated to €30.
- — Volume 1 draft complete — 11 chapters, ~61k words; microsite scaffolded and first sample chapters published.