[sdiy] Dual ground planes

[Harry Bissell]

It really depends on what kind of chassis you have. With single boards
parallel to a metal case (like minimoog for example) you may not need
a ground plane. For boards mounted parallel to each other (like most right-
angle mounted boards in modular racks) the ground plane could help a lot.

I have a sheet of metal on top of my bench, with a sheet of plastic on top of that.
When I prototype, I'll connect the metal to the circuit ground. Sometimes it makes
a huge difference, especially in very high gain circuits.

The is a board layout at wiseguysynth.com of my "Muffy" guitar synthesizer, check
out the ground plane areas for an example of where planes might be an advantage

H^) harry


----- Original Message -----
From: David Ingebretsen <dingebre at 3dphysics.net>
To: 'Paul Perry' <pfperry at melbpc.org.au>, synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Sent: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:26:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Dual ground planes

Thanks Paul. I appreciate your thoughts. I'm using Eagle and it's good at
removing islands, so no disconnected or floating areas. The question arose
as I was adding a ground plane to the VCO and thinking about old Moog,
Steiner, ARP, etc. PCBs. I don't think I remember seeing a ground plane on
any of them and they seemed to work fine.

None of the modules I'm working on will be working on in the near future
will have true digital parts and since the frequencies are low, I thought
why even bother other than it seems to be the norm to add a ground plane
since Schematic capture/PCB layout software does it so easily.

I'll keep reading and studying.

David

~~ -----Original Message-----
~~ From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl [mailto:synth-diy-
~~ bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Paul Perry
~~ Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 6:30 PM
~~ To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
~~ Subject: Re: [sdiy] Dual ground planes
~~ 
~~ Copper areas on boards are like commas when you are
~~ writing prose, or spices when you are cooking: you
~~ probably need them, but it's worse than useless if you
~~ throw them around randomly.
~~ 
~~ It's well worth THINKING about what you are doing -
~~ or, what the copper is doing.
~~ An unconnected  floating area is unlikley to do any good at all.
~~ 
~~ Think star grounding - and why one needs it.
~~ If you have digital and analog on the same board, think
~~ about possible interference if parts of the ground return
~~ is common. And remember that the power rails can be as troublesome
~~ as the ground.
~~ 
~~ There are only two things that can reduce me to tears - women
~~ and ground problems. Ground problems can be solved.
~~ 
~~ paul perry Melbourne Australia
~~ _______________________________________________
~~ Synth-diy mailing list
~~ Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
~~ http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy

_______________________________________________
Synth-diy mailing list
Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy

-- 
Harry Bissell & Nora Abdullah 4eva