15-pin D-Sub Testing Breakout Board

This wasn't the first circuit board that I've designed, but it was the first challenging one to do because I wanted to keep it as small as possible and that I had a lot to work around.

The holes for the pins and the mounting clip/hook thing wasn't really hard to do, since the datasheet told me all that I needed to know (even though I kinda ignored the suggested hole diameter a bit).

There was another 15-pin D-Sub tester at work that was made with the same PCB-mounted connector, a length of 15-conductor ribbon cable (originally 20-conductor), and some female molex pins with heat-shrink tubing around each pin. While it did the trick, it was annoying to sort through the pins, even though the main ones were labelled (which I later updated because there was a rare occasion that I needed to find one of the pins that wasn't one of the common ones).

I took the picture after I had discarded the twist-tie that was separating the main pins (rather after I discarded the mess).

Since I had created a couple boards or so before this, I figured this would be the much sane replacement for the mess of cables, as it would make it easier to use and be much more compact. But as I said, it became a challenge to keep the board as small as possible (to keep the board cost down) while trying to route the traces efficiently.

The smallest "standard" trace width in EAGLE is 0.254mm (0.01in, 10mil), which was what I tried to use, but when I thought I was done, the design rule for OSH Park told me that I had spacing issues (the spacing between the 0.254mm traces and the pads for the pins were too close to each other), and I think at that point, my only option was to make the traces as narrow as possible.

OSH Park's minimum trace width is 0.1524mm (6mil), which I used and was able to successfully complete the board. I marked pins 1 and 15, put circles on the main pins (1, 2, 9, 10, 13, and 14), put lines to denote pins 6 through 10, marked pin 15 for the connector (for proper mounting orientation), and then labelled the board on the bottom.

Bottom and top sides of the board without the connector.

I now just plug the cable that I make into the tester, have one test lead in contact with the cable and the other on the corresponding pin number on the board. I haven't used it officially yet, but I have tested it to make sure it works (not like I had already checked the design enough times to make sure I didn't screw up the order). Since OSH Park sends boards out in threes, I've got a couple extra for whatever.

Top, bottom, and front sides of the board with the connector.