.
Welcome to the world of design, Jason!
First, note that it is not called, "do". It is called
design for a reason. I say this because you will find
many sources asking you to "do this", sometimes in direct
conflict with the last visitor. You really need to find
the common ground between these many sources to achieve
a robust design.
Second, let me throw this out - a Printed Board Design
is a puzzle with 10,000 possible solutions, 100 of which
will work and 4 of which are really good.
Next, to help determine what works and what's good, you
need to gather understanding of the various stakeholders
in the product:
Electrical issues
Regulatory compliance issues
Mechanical issues
Thermal constraints
Bare board fabrication issues
Components assembly issues
Board and Product test strategies
Rework and Repair
Documentation and revision control
And, for your reward, if you can satisfy ALL the factions,
you become invisible! That is, the downstream players
will all accomplish their goals without cursing you, and
therefore not even notice you were there!
Along the way you will undoubtedly get a blizzard of the
"Design for This" and "Design for That" monikers. My take
(from 23 years in physical design) is that, well, to get
to "true invisibility" you must unify all this stuff and
try to "Design for Purpose".
Among the many good suggestions you've gotten, let me add
that the pertinent specifications from IPC are extremely
useful in grasping not just "what to do" but will also
give you a picture of "why" as well. Check out the IPC's
web site and prepare your management for a couple hundred
dollars worth of specs. They will be well worth it.
Also look up the IPC Designer's Council, there may be a
chapter in your area. This group is dedicated to the
development of designers and each chapter puts on some
informal (and some a little formal) programs on a monthly
or periodic basis.
Best of luck,
--
Jeff Seeger Applied CAD Knowledge Inc
Chief Design Philosopher Tyngsboro, MA 01879
jseeger "at" appliedcad "dot" com 978 649 9800
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