From previous post you guys might know I have trying to make a watch. So far, I have tested my components and written some code. My first try at etching PCB for the watch was pretty good. The toner transfer worked (somewhat) despite being the size of 26mm x 26mm. But my major problem is routing. Routing has turned out to be very frustrating for me. At first I just connected the nets I could and left that I couldn't. Then I soldered thin magnet wires to make the rest of the connections. Which again was very frustrating. I don't know how many times I felt like shoving my cheap soldering iron into my laptop screen. It was even more frustrating soldering small pins looking through this ghetto lens contraption.
But at last I was able to solder the remaining connections required to test the ATmega32 and 74HC595 ICs.
And surprisingly it worked even though it doesn't look like it should wok. But trust me it works.
Now I want to make a proper board which won't require me to use magnet wires to make connections but I have run into a problem again. Why are pins placed in such inconvenient positions?
For example I need to connect all the GND pins and VCC pins in above image. But as you can see, they have place PIN 5 VCC above PIN 6 GND and there is no way I will be able to connect all the VCC and GNDs without overlapping each other.
How do people route stuff? Is there some rules, tips and tricks I need to learn? How do I learn it. I have tried placing the components closer, farther, rotated 45 degrees, created GND planes but nothing works for me. Is is not possible to make single sided 26mm x 26mm single sided PCB at home? I am very frustrated.
How do people route? Where do I learn to route?
This is my current progress. But I know, I am at a dead end.