Preparing the board

The first step into building the digital clock was to cut and drill into the board because any modifications after the components were added would be a hassle. Holes were cut in positions where there were no holes for components since I knew I was going to use the entire board during the planning stage. A cut to the top portion of the circuit board was made as well in order to make room for the display board, shown later on, but was found later to be a waste of time because the display board sticks out far enough so that it does not even come into contact with the now missing edge of the main board.

The buttons were not soldered on at this stage because I realized that my circuit routing method would greatly reduce their lifetime. To avoid this, the buttons were left off until I had completed most of the routing behind the board.