LED Toggle Switch: From Learning About Debounce to Prototype to PCB.
Walkthrough for a simple PCB that allows us to toggle an LED with a satisfying “click” from prototype to fully manufactured PCB (Sponsored by PCBWay).
How it started
I’ve been building an 8-bit computer from scratch, and one of the peripherals I need is a nice way to input numbers into the machine. My first working prototype was OK, but pretty.. rustic. I really love the early hacker aesthetic of stained wood and beveled aluminum, but the physical toggle switches are a real pain to line up, and if you’re not careful you can break them while screwing them down. Notice one missing in the following picture for this very reason. The rest work just fine, but it’s just not ideal. Good enough for a first attempt, at any rate.
I’m fairly proficient with electronics, but I am no means an electrical engineer. I’m a software engineer who is trying to prove to himself that he can build a computer from scratch. I’m learning, and writing these articles (like my recent Glowforge PCB article) to document my progress and to help others on a similar maker path. There’s so many terms I’ve never heard before, I spend a lot of time researching and learning about the bit I need. It also gives me some new topics to discuss with my Dad, a retired electrical engineer who’s still building awesome stuff.
