Mahir Patel · UIUC electrical engineering student
Boards, from schematic to bring-up.
PCB layout, board reviews, JLCPCB order help, firmware, harnesses and test fixtures. Send what you have and I reply with a scope, a price and a date.
See the paid board work Portfolio and resume
Taking hardware work now. Looking for a summer 2027 electrical engineering internship.
Model power
Illustrative 3D model, drawn in code. Not a photo or a layout of a real board. Hold to power, drag to tilt.
Six services, six nets
The board above, from the top with the soldermask off. Each thing I do for clients is one net on it; scroll and the camera follows the copper. Client work is shown without the client's name.
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NET 01VBUSKiCad
PCB layout
Your schematic becomes a board you can send to a fab: placement, routing, design rules, and files the fab accepts.
You get
- KiCad project, ready to edit
- Gerbers, drill and pick-and-place files
- BOM matched to the fab’s parts
- A fab-readiness check before you order
Example Client project, details not public. Paid Upwork work, October 2026: a 4-layer, 88-part two-speed PWM controller with JLCPCB assembly files for both sides.
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NET 02SDAFixed price
Schematic and board review
A second pair of eyes on your design before you pay for boards: missing parts, bad footprints, rules the fab will reject.
You get
- A written list of findings, each marked confirmed or a judgment call
- Fixes you can apply the same day
- Fixed-price tiers, paid before work starts
Fixed price: $49, $149, $299. See the price list
Example Before You Fab sample report. Four findings from a hand-checked review of an open-source board released into the public domain: a regulator with no output capacitor and plated holes under the fab’s ring minimum.
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NET 03TXQuote first
JLCPCB order help
Your order is stuck in review, or you are about to place your first assembled-board order. I check the files the fab will see and get the order moving.
You get
- Gerber, BOM and placement files checked against JLCPCB’s assembly rules
- Fixes for the parts the fab flags: stock, footprints, rotation
- Order steps written out for your account
Example Client project, details not public. Paid Upwork work, September 2026: a reed-switch battery power switch board, delivered as a JLCPCB package for 50 assembled boards.
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NET 04SWDIOEmbedded
Embedded firmware
Code that makes your board do its job: read sensors, store data, drive motors and servos, talk over I2C.
You get
- Source in a repo you own
- Build and flash steps written down
- A test plan you can run on the bench
Example Iron Man helmet voice control. Voice assistant for the ASME @ Illinois helmet on a Raspberry Pi 5: it listens for commands and drives the servos that open the faceplate. Team project.
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NET 05J2Drawings and BOM
Wiring and harness
Connector pinouts, wire lists and harness drawings for a prototype, so the build matches the design.
You get
- Pinout table and wire list
- Harness drawing
- Connector and wire BOM
Example No public example yet. I have not published a harness drawing. Ask and I will say what I would draw for your build.
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NET 06TP1Bench setups
Test fixtures
A repeatable way to check each board: test points, pogo-pin or header access, and a script that says pass or fail.
You get
- Test plan with expected readings
- Fixture wiring and a bring-up script
- Pass or fail log you can keep
Example No public example yet. I have not published a fixture. Ask and I will say what I would build for your board.
Quote this service Not sure which one you need?
Describe the board or device and where it is stuck. I will say which service fits, or that it needs someone else.
Request a quote
Board reviews, priced like parts
Fixed prices from Before You Fab, paid with Stripe before work starts. Then send your KiCad project or fab files.
| Ref | Item | Lead time | What it covers | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Fab-order check | 2 business days | A person goes through your free report and the things software cannot see, then tells you in writing: order it, or fix these first. | Pay $49 | |
| R2 | Schematic Check | 3 business days | Your schematic read against the datasheets, part by part, before you spend a day on layout. | Pay $149 | |
| R3 | Full Review | 4 business days | Schematic, layout and the fab package, reviewed together, ending in the same sign-off. | Pay $299 |
Sample reviewjoric/nrfmicro
- ConfirmedU2 (AP2112K-3.3) has no capacitor on its output, the rail that feeds the nRF52840 module.
- ConfirmedVBAT and VBUS have no capacitor to ground. The BOM has no capacitors at all.
- ConfirmedU1’s through-hole pads leave a 0.075 mm annular ring on the narrow side; JLCPCB publishes 0.18 mm as its 2-layer minimum.
- A person decidesX1 (32.768 kHz) has no load capacitors. Whether that matters depends on the crystal actually used.
Fab notes
- Quote first. You send what you need, a files link, a deadline and a budget range. I reply by email with scope, price and date, and nothing starts until you agree to them.
- Fixed-price reviews. The reviews on this sheet have set prices and a Stripe checkout. Pay, then send your KiCad project or fab files.
- Plain status. Every board on the proof panel says how far it really got: planned, in development, files delivered, built, simulated or live.
- Free check first. Not sure you need a person yet? Run the free Before You Fab checker on your KiCad files. It runs in your browser and uploads nothing.
Request a quote
Four fields and an email. Each pin on the plug lights as you fill its field, and it seats when the request goes out. I read every request and reply by email. You can also write to mahir@mahirbuilds.com.
Proof, panelized
Every piece of work I can show, laid out like boards on a fab panel, each with how far it really got. Paid client work comes first, without the client's name. There are no bench photos on file yet; they go here when I take them.
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Paid Upwork client work
Two-speed PWM controller
Files deliveredOctober 2026
A 4-layer, 88-part two-speed PWM controller, with JLCPCB assembly files for both sides (25 parts on top, 63 on the bottom). No bench photos or bring-up results yet.
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Paid Upwork client work
Reed-switch battery power switch
Files deliveredSeptember 2026
A battery power-switch board built around a reed switch, delivered as a JLCPCB package for 50 assembled boards.
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Paid Upwork client work
USB-C protection front end
Files deliveredSeptember 2026
The protection circuit between a USB-C connector and the rest of a client’s board.
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Paid Upwork client work
Fuel pump primer timer
In developmentActive contract, October 2026
A timer circuit that runs an electric fuel pump for a set priming time. The contract is still open.
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My product · free web tool
Before You Fab
LiveFree checker, paid reviews
A KiCad fab-readiness checker. It reads your schematic, board and JLCPCB files in the browser, uploads nothing, and lists what will hold up the order.
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Team project · ASME @ Illinois
JARVIS for the Iron Man helmet
BuiltTeam project, ASME @ Illinois
The voice assistant inside the ASME @ Illinois Iron Man helmet. It runs on a Raspberry Pi 5, listens for commands and drives the servos that open the faceplate.
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Digital design
32-bit ALU
SimulatedVerified in Vivado
A 32-bit arithmetic logic unit written in SystemVerilog and verified in Vivado simulation.
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My flagship build
Jarvis HUD glasses
PlannedStarts Oct 17, 2026
Version 1 targets a proactive Jarvis agent that runs through Base Camp, glasses light enough to wear all day, and a heads-up display for outdoors and climbing.
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AI software · co-founder
RingLatch
BuiltPaused, October 2026
An AI phone receptionist for trades shops that I co-founded, built on Retell voice agents and Cloudflare Workers. It is paused, and its booking and quote follow-ups never went live.
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About
- Designer
- I'm Mahir Patel, a UIUC electrical engineering student. I design boards in KiCad, get them ready for JLCPCB to build, and take paid hardware work on Upwork.
- Paid work
- A USB-C protection front end and a reed-switch battery power switch board (September 2026), a 4-layer, 88-part two-speed PWM controller (October 2026), and a fuel pump primer timer (in progress).
- Also built
- A 32-bit ALU in SystemVerilog, verified in Vivado. The voice assistant for the ASME @ Illinois Iron Man helmet. Co-founder of RingLatch, an AI phone receptionist (paused).
- Credentials
- FCC amateur radio licenseLicensed operator
- NVIDIA Deep Learning InstituteStudent Ambassador
- Next
- Looking for a summer 2027 electrical engineering internship.
- Latest log entry
- Jarvis HUD glasses, day zero. The flagship build starts on Saturday, October 17. This is what version 1 has to do, written down before a single part is ordered. All entries or RSS.