[sdiy] prototype boarding (help?) and homemade pcbs.

[Dave Kendall]

Hi Cole.

My 2 pence worth....

Try this ; <http://www.swcp.com/~jchavez/osmond.html>

It was a tip from Yves Usson way back on the old EFM forum I think... :-)
I use it to work out a tidy way of putting the components onto perfboard.
You can change your mind anytime, and move the components around, rotate
them and so on before committing to the board. There's a pdf tutorial and
it's easy to use. You don't need the netlist and rat's nest stuff in order
to make a circuit - the basic tools are fine for the job.

If there are any components like capacitors in a schematic that I'm not sure
about (perhaps where it says try a value between X..... etc) I put pcb pins
in the board and solder to those. For resistors that you want to try
different values of, if you have spare trimmers, use those temporarily in
place of a fixed resistor to get the value(s) you want. When happy, put in a
fixed one. 

Perfboard has worked well for me - the connections can be very strong and
permanent if done carefully. I've made several circuits this way, and all
still work fine. It's also a lot easier IMO to change a component without
possible damage on perfboard than on PCBs, as sometimes the traces on pcbs
can be damaged with even just one component change, and it's not always
easily noticeable. It's a good idea to use IC sockets for the ICs, unless
you're *really* confident. Use the turned pin ones, on the whole they're
more reliable than the stamped flat contact ones.

Many of the test circuits I've made on perfboard get used again and again
for checking out new stuff - eg, inverting and non-inverting opamps, switch
de-bouncer (thanks to help from this list;-) CV offset/scaler and so on.....

>From a tip from this list,
<http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/mmlogic.html>
Has proved invaluable, so much so, that I now have a 40106 board with all
the I/O  connections brought out to pcb pins and labelled.

Another thing that's helped a lot - I've got a couple of sheets of paper
with the pin-outs of common components stuck to the wall by the workbench.
That way, I can just glance up to see whether I've got the connections
right. On there, are amongst others, single, dual and quad op-amps with
notes as to which ones are pin compatible (e.g. TL072/LM 358), common
trannies such as 2N3904/3906,  BC 547, and BC557, LM13700 and 3080 OTAs,
4069/40106 (same pinout), quad dual-input CMOS 4xxx logic ICs with truth
tables, logic symbols and descriptions, LM78xx and 79xx regulators and some
other trannies, ICs and bits and bobs that get used often. Saves a lot of
time. Don't know if this is a common thing to do or not, but it's been very
useful, and was well worth the half an hour or so it took to draw it up.

cheers,

Dave





on 13/5/06 11:01, Cole Groff at chonald at gmail.com wrote:

> hey guys,
> 
> i am trying to prototype-board René Schmitz's ADSR2, but am having a
> little trouble.
> 
> this is the first module that i've built on prototype-board.  it's
> just a board with simple through-holes.
> 
> would you guys happen to have any suggestions on how to transfer
> circuit schematics to a prototype-board like this?  i've just made a
> big mess trying to make things fit and work things out.  but, it seems
> like there should be some simple guildlines to make it easier.
> 
> also, i've been thinking of making my own pcbs at home.  this would
> solve the prototype-board problem.  but, i would need a macintosh
> program that would let me layout the schematic, then have the program
> translate the schematic to a pcb layout.  is this possible on a mac?
> 
> 
> any help is much appreciated,
> cole groff
>