July 12, 2026
Solder, sink drama, and shipping tears
Designing and assembling my first PCB
From blinking lights to custom circuit bragging rights as the comments split old-school vs order-now
TLDR: A first-time builder turned a simple sensor into their first custom circuit board project after outgrowing breadboards. In the comments, people argued over whether cheap online board-making is amazing or whether the old DIY-at-home method was better, with plenty of complaints about shipping and buying parts.
A hobbyist bought a tiny Arduino board, got the lights blinking, hooked up a weather sensor and small screen, and then did what every ambitious tinkerer eventually does: decided the messy breadboard life had to end. Instead of copying the whole setup at once, they picked a smaller challenge — making their own BME280 sensor board from scratch using KiCad, a free design tool, and the sensor’s manufacturer guide. Very wholesome, very "I can totally do this," very first-step-into-the-deep-end energy.
But the real fireworks were in the comments, where readers instantly turned a simple first-board story into a full-on culture war about how hobby electronics should be done. One camp was practically swooning over modern manufacturing, calling this a "golden era" where custom boards are absurdly cheap and easy to order. Another side came in with major dad-lore energy: why send designs overseas when you could apparently make circuit boards in the bathroom sink like it’s 1987? Then came the practical cynics, reminding everyone that waiting for shipping can absolutely wreck the vibe when you’re still guessing your way through a project.
And the biggest relatable meltdown? Parts shopping. One commenter basically said the dream dies not in design, but in scrolling through endless tiny component listings and discovering sellers want you to buy 500 of everything. So yes, the maker fantasy is alive — but the comments say the true final boss is either shipping delays, shopping fatigue, or your own nostalgia.
Key Points
- •The author began hardware experimentation with an Arduino Nano ESP32 development board and quickly verified it by blinking onboard LEDs.
- •A prototype setup was built by connecting a small LCD and a BME280 sensor breakout board to the ESP32 over I2C.
- •Instead of redesigning a full Arduino-based board, the author chose a smaller first PCB project: a custom BME280 sensor module.
- •The purchased BME280 breakout board supported both I2C and SPI, but the custom design was intentionally limited to I2C.
- •The schematic was recreated in KiCad from the Bosch Sensortec BME280 datasheet, and the article notes that PCB design requires assigning footprints to components.