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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=010005200-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Tom,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=010005200-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=010005200-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>The Excel thing was originally for laying out
breadboards. I hated "improvising breadboards at the workbench" and wanted
a tool for laying them out. After getting fed up with breadboards, I
decided that I could also use it to lay out PCBs. Since I make all my own
PCBs in my laundry room basin, I had no need for anything more
sophisticated. Plus, I was able to do pretty decent layouts in fairly
short order, and I found it somewhat therapeutic to do so, so that's why I never
bothered to learn anything else. However, lately I've been thinking that I
really ought to join the 21st century with this stuff. I'm taking a
sabbatical from teaching in 2017, and will be devoting a lot of time to
synth-DIY activities (including finally learning how to program
microcontrollers), so perhaps I'll learn a layout software. (One thing,
though, is that I hate soldering "professionally made" PCBs. I much prefer
soldering my own single-sided boards, even though they often require a fair
number of wire jumpers.)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=010005200-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=010005200-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Cheers, Dave</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> Tom Wiltshire
[mailto:tom@electricdruid.net] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 20, 2016
4:01 PM<BR><B>To:</B> David G Dixon<BR><B>Cc:</B> 'Quincas Moreira';
'sdiy'<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [sdiy] PC board from
artwork?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>David,
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>It's truly remarkable that you put up with such a hideously involved
method. I mean, I know how these things evolve, so I completely understand how
you got there, but if you stand back and look at what you're doing, given the
software that's available, it doesn't make any sense. At the time, you used
the tool you had. Then you used the tool you'd used before, and developed it.
Before you know it, you're doing full-scale layouts in a tool designed for
something completely different, with none of the benefits of a tool designed
for the job.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Honestly, try one of the options that have been mentioned. I'd put in a
shout in for RS' Designspark too, although maybe they don't have such a
presence on your side of the pond. I don't use it (I'm on DipTrace which has
already been mentioned, and which I'd also recommend) but I've heard lots of
good things from people who do.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV>Tom</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>On 20 Oct 2016, at 04:40, David G Dixon <<A
href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca">dixon@mail.ubc.ca</A>> wrote:</DIV><BR
class=Apple-interchange-newline>
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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Hi Quincas,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>I have made a bunch of little graphics in Excel, using
just rectangles, lines of various colours, etc, which represent chips,
resistors, caps, diodes, etc, with their leads and pins. The first
thing I do is set the grid to 16 x 16 pixels so that the spreadsheet cells
are all little squares. Each square represents 0.1". Then I
select "Snap to Grid" in the Drawing menu so that when I move the parts
around they snap to the 0.1" grid. Then I just do the layout by
pure blunt force by carefully working through the
schematic.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>The layouts are facilitated by sticking to a certain
basic plan. The power rails go down the middle of the board from left
to right, and all the chips straddle these rails. Hence, the first row
of pads next to the rails accommodate the chip pins. The next rows of
pads are for things that connect between adjacent chip pins, like small
stability caps in opamp feedback loops. The next pads are for
components connecting out from the chips, such as resistors and
diodes. These are all 0.4" long, and thereby straddle
three potential rows of traces and/or pads. I call this
three-lane conduit the "boulevard" and it is through here that I route
signals around the board. Beyond that is a row of pads for the other
end of all the resistors and diodes, and then a row of pads for off-board
connectors, and finally a ground trace which typically encircles the entire
board. The boards are arranged symmetrically around the rails.
This means that all of my analog boards are either 2.1" wide, or 4.0" wide
for "double-wide" boards (which share a ground trace down the middle between
the two halves).</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Once I've got the layout done, connecting all the parts
with different coloured traces (lines with ball ends in Excel), and the
layout is reviewed and error-free, then I copy this layout to make several
different graphics. One is "parts-only", one is "traces-only", and one
is "pads only". The "traces-only" graphic is made up of all
the traces in the layout, and is made up of several layers of
lines. All traces are made up of three layers of lines, with ball ends
of various sizes to make up pads, and smaller lines with small
ball-ends on every line to give rounded corners. Finally, all power
and ground traces are copied and made wider than other
traces. These are all consolidated into a single graphic.
The "pads-only" graphic is made up of small circles combined with
larger invisible squares to force them to align on the grid.
These small circles sit over the ball ends of the traces, and
exist to provide small drill-guide holes for the pads for easy
drilling.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Finally, the pads and traces are turned black and combined
to make the transfer graphic. This is what is printed and transferred
onto the PCB. Finally finally, the transfer graphic is covered
with a semi-transparent white rectangle, and then the "parts-only"
graphic is superimposed on this, and that makes the "build pic" which
is actually what the completed board will look like. I use this
graphic when I'm stuffing the board.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Sorry, that was long, and probably hard to follow.
I'll just email you an example so you can see for
yourself.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=905492003-20102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>Dave</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> Quincas Moreira [mailto:quincas@<A
href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</A>] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October
19, 2016 7:45 PM<BR><B>To:</B> David G Dixon<BR><B>Cc:</B> KA4HJH;
sdiy<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [sdiy] PC board from
artwork?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>David, could you describe how you lay out PCBs in Excel? very
curious :)<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 7:36 PM, David G Dixon
<SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca"
target=_blank>dixon@mail.ubc.ca</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>Hi Terry,<BR><BR>I can rework the layout to
accommodate more typical quad opamps such as<BR>TL074. This is
actually very easy for me to do. I do it in Excel.
With<BR>the graphic and the schematic from the article, I can reproduce
the layout<BR>in Excel very quickly and then manipulate the layout to
change the opamp<BR>pinouts. No problem.<BR><BR>I could also add
some sine shapers if required. I have a nice design for<BR>sine
shapers which I could basically drop onto the board. It would get
a<BR>tiny bit bigger, though.<BR><SPAN class="im HOEnZb"><BR>>
-----Original Message-----<BR>> From: Synth-diy [mailto:<A
href="mailto:synth-diy-bounces@dropmix.xs4all.nl">synth-diy-bounces@<WBR>dropmix.xs4all.nl</A>]<BR>>
On Behalf Of KA4HJH<BR></SPAN><SPAN class="im HOEnZb">> Sent:
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 4:44 PM<BR>> To: sdiy<BR>> Subject:
Re: [sdiy] PC board from artwork?<BR>><BR>><BR></SPAN>
<DIV class=HOEnZb>
<DIV class=h5>> > On Oct 19, 2016, at 5:57 PM, Byron G.
Jacquot<BR>> <<A
href="mailto:thescum@surfree.com">thescum@surfree.com</A>>
wrote:<BR>> ><BR>> > I'd be happy to redraw it in Eagle, and
generate Gerbers,<BR>> if it comes to that. It'd be a quick
hour or so. You'd<BR>> still have to find somewhere to fab 'em
- I typically use<BR>> OSHPark or Advanced Circuits.<BR>>
><BR>> > It's worth noting that the original design uses
4136's, but<BR>> might be more useful if they were swapped to the
more common<BR>> quad op-amp package.<BR>><BR>> That was one of
the main changes I would make if, in my dream<BR>> world, I could
actually redo the whole thing. Fortunately I<BR>> have lots of
4136s.<BR>><BR>> The other thing is that it might be interesting
to put sine<BR>> shapers on the oscillators that form the Lissajous
baseline.<BR>> I don't know how it would look with an ellipse instead
of a rhomboid.<BR>><BR>><BR>> > On Oct 19, 2016, at 5:40 PM,
David G Dixon<BR>> <<A
href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca">dixon@mail.ubc.ca</A>> wrote:<BR>>
><BR>> > I would be happy to make one for you, Terry. I
make my own<BR>> boards all<BR>> > the time, and sell quite a
few of them to other hobbyists.<BR>> ><BR>> > I have one or
two questions about the layout graphic, but<BR>> we can deal<BR>>
> with that if you decide you want me to do it.<BR>><BR>> This
list is getting more helpful all the time. I need to get<BR>> past
Halloween before doing anything but after
that...<BR>><BR>><BR>> > On Oct 19, 2016, at 5:54 PM, Dave
Manley <<A
href="mailto:dlmanley@sonic.net">dlmanley@sonic.net</A>>
wrote:<BR>> ><BR>> > Egads, I remember reading that article
in my high school<BR>> library when it was first published.<BR>>
><BR>> > ObSdiyContent: it must have been about the same
time<BR>> PAiA's 2700 was in Radio-Electronics...<BR>><BR>>
Yep, I was a subscriber when I was in high school. I really<BR>>
wanted to build one. It only took me a couple of decades to<BR>> get
around to it.<BR>><BR>> The dog-eared magazine is in the next room
right now. The pdf<BR>> article on my blog is a recreation of the
original, OCRed and<BR>> reset in the original
typeface.<BR>><BR>><BR>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH<BR>> "The Mac
Doctor"<BR>><BR>>
______________________________<WBR>_________________<BR>> Synth-diy
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clear=all><BR>-- <BR>
<DIV class=gmail_signature data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Quincas
Moreira<BR>Test Pilot at VBrazil
Modular</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>Synth-diy
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