Taking note of this for the future; I really should get to know the more physical side of electronics.

Update: ;__; No luck so far finding a layout that doesn't need at least a couple of vias. I might try flipping some of the parts next, but it might look weird if the LEDs aren't symmetrical. Second last resort is 0 ohm resistors to jump a few traces. Won't work in the LED matrix area though.

I'm not viewing it as pessimism, but a kind of reminder as to what we are capable of making in our own homes. Maybe in a few years with a higher resolution printer...

Thank you for confirming the idea would not work. The stubborn ass in me wanted to try, but I need to better budget my time. I'll just have to order the ones with pins for now.

I forgot that it helps to come back to a layout after a while and change things up. It's been over a year I think since I last etched a PCB.

I think this attempt got overdeveloped. Also, I should have used a soft brush to clear away undeveloped photoresist which would have shortened development time as well. Not sure about the trace between the 0805 resistor though, even at .3mm it may be too big. No way else to do it with 1 later tho.

It also looks like the film wasn't evenly applied, so maybe not enough weight was used near the edges or the copper isn't flat. The bubble that formed at the bottom started around 200c at which point I killed the heat and put on a heavy drink coaster (all I could find).

Compressing the film onto the copper by sandwiching it against another piece of copper in a vise does not work for adhering the film. Maybe my heat gun was set too low (200c), but I think the copper isn't flat enough. I'm not sure what I have lying around that's flat, heavy, and can xfer heat.

Same I've always done; with inkjet transparencies and UV photoresist film. One thing different is I'm trying to use my heat gun to apply the film instead of a clothes iron. I put it in a vice against another piece of copper, but only half adhered :/ Gotta make another attempt.

Do any of the IOs go high at all? Debug printfs should work as well iirc to help verify the code is actually executing.