[sdiy] PCB size

[Harry Bissell]

Your description sounds like the Chris MacDonald "MiniModular"

I don't know if he made the $.25 an hour :^)

H^) harry


----- Original Message -----
From: rdrake <rdrake at data2action.com>
To: dingebre at 3dphysics.net, synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Sent: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:07:25 -0500 (EST)
Subject: RE: [sdiy] PCB size

unless you've got a fair amount of experience in PCB layout and are planning on doing a full commercial production run, i'd go with individual boards, with board mounted controls where that is easy and simple.  i think most of us make mistakes when starting to do PCB designs; individual boards will minimize the cost of those mistakes and make troubleshooting much easier. board-mounting all the panel components (pots switches and jacks) adds design constraints and potentially complicates the layout even more.  a full single-board synth with all PCB components would be a dream project for many DIYers, you could probably sell dozens, and make at least $0.25/hr for your labor...  i'd certainly be interested!

good luck!
b

>----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
>From: dingebre at 3dphysics.net
>To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>Sent: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:22:36
>
>I'm not quite sure how to explain my question...
>
>I'm looking for opinions regarding making one
>bigger PCB versus several
>smaller PCB's for my Synthacon project.
>
>I'm not so worried about cost difference, more
>about wiring and assembly
>efficiency.
>
>Looking at the schematics and panel layout, it
>looks like there were several
>individual boards, VCO's on one, EG on another,
>etc. and flying wires were
>used to interconnect them. I want to keep the same
>basic look and feel of
>the original; single panel, no patch cords except
>to the keyboard, etc.
>
>In some ways, it just seems so much simpler to make
>one large PCB and use
>PCB mounted switches, pots, etc where possible.
>
>But, the complexity does increase and while cost
>isn't that big a factor, I
>can see the cost going way up because there would
>be a lot of blank space on
>the bigger PCB.
>
>I guess I'd just appreciate any thoughts on the
>matter as I'm sure there are
>many of you who have done far more PCB designs than
>I have and much more
>complex ones that the Synthacon designs.
>
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-- 
Harry Bissell & Nora Abdullah 4eva