Good Engineering Practices

[Tony Clark]

   Funny, some of the stuff you mentioned was taught in my EET 
curriculum.  But then, perhaps that is the difference between a largely 
theoretical degree and a less theoretical-more application degree.
   I find that your comment on one-sided versus double-sided boards 
intriguing.  For starters, the cost of a double-sided board is not any 
more expensive than a single-sided board.  The circuit board companies 
that I've dealt with only care about two things:

   1)  Board dimentions
   2)  Number of holes to be drilled

   It's only when you go to multi-layer boards that the price starts 
jumping.
   In my previous post, I mentioned trace redundancy to be a VERY good 
thing.  Well if you are quite set on designing a circuit board using 
jumper wires and a single-sided board, then why not pay a few cents more 
and get an exact duplicate trace copy on a double-sided board?  Then ALL 
of the traces are duplicated and you'll never have to worry about 
board/trace problems.
   Of course, this is assuming that you are getting someone to make the 
board for you.  If you are doing this yourself, one-sided boards are 
definately less of a pain to do.
   There is a Canadian company that will do prototype circuit boards 
cheap without the huge setup costs associated with other manufacturers.  
Check out AP Circuits on the web at:

http://www.apcircuits.com

Look up pricing for Proto 1 scheduling.

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I can't drive (my Moog) 55!
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Tony Clark -- clark at andrews.edu 
http://www.andrews.edu/~clark
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> Use jumpers! The cost of going to double sided is worth populating 
> 100 jumpers.