<div dir="auto"><div>Hi Steve.</div><div dir="auto">Thanks for this excellent description of your process. lots of helpful tips. </div><div dir="auto">Would love to see some pictures if you have them handy.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:59 AM <<a href="mailto:sleepy_dog@gmx.de">sleepy_dog@gmx.de</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div><br>
Heh. If I need something quickly, cant wait for PCB, but also it
does have certain physical dimension requirements,<br>
then I do get really "boring" and do "plan" perfboard - "what is
the fun in that" someone asked - indeed, what is the fun in that
sort of tedious, repetitive work alltogether?<br>
Better make it as short as, and least error prone possible. It's
so much easier to reason about misbehavior of a circuit if it
actually matches what you have drawn - at least from the obvious
(not parasitic) components and their supposed connections.<br>
While it's perhaps reasonabnly unlikely to make mistakes if you
have all the space in the world and basically solder together the
circuit as-is-drawn on some big ass perfboard, also leaving lots
of room for adding more stuff to experiment,<br>
as things get more crowded and less intuitively placed, I found
the following to be helpful:<br>
<br>
First of all, esp. for single-sided perfboard, I like to combine
THT ICs with SMT 0805 passives, as you can often put them
comfortably between legs and under the IC (on the bottom side of
the board), that already saves a lot of space - and wiring effort.<br>
There are also these, often green, plated-through double-sided
perfboards - may reduce the insulated connections you have to make
(which take longer due to the need for burning away the insulation
/ tinning), e.g. all GND with silver wire on the bottom, +V on the
top side, or so, other nets with insulated wire, where unconnected
crossings would be at least.<br>
<br>
Also, in the type of scenario where I would, if I could, prefer a
small PCB, but don't want to wait,<br>
I might already have a captured schematic in my chosen EDA
software anyway - or if it's small, I'll just do it quickly.<br>
Then convert to PCB, and usually don't route anything, or at best
a few special traces to mark special preferences.<br>
<br>
I put that on my small-ish tablet with stylus support, that
actually fits on my crowded soldering bench.<br>
that also runs the EDA software. Then I:<br>
<br>
foreach non-GND-net:<br>
highlight net in PCB software<br>
connect all net points in circuit with insulated "coil wire",
point-to-point<br>
hide net's ratlines (or color existing traces) to make visible
what's still TODO - this shrinks more and more, and you can see
the light at the end of the tunnel<br>
<br>
This, for me anyway, proved much less error prone than staring on
a paper printout and comparing it with the current physical as-is
schematic all the time (even when pencil checking traces ;) ).<br>
Can basically do that half-asleep without making a mistake. (just
make sure to display the bottom side mirrored appropriately :D)<br>
<br>
Then for the GND net I do the above, except I user silver coated
copper wire, a bit sturdier, and wherever possible, do not cut,
but bend around corners, using one long piece of wire across many
connections, saving some work steps. The silver wire will be over
all those coil wires, holding them in place a bit better, esp.
longer ones, and make it less likely that you will rip off any
connection by accidentally grabbing too hard anywhere.<br>
<br>
<br>
- Steve<br>
<br>
<br>
Am 31.10.2020 um 11:23 schrieb ShedSynth:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Hi
all.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
use perfboard, but I don’t try to make it into a PCB.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
wire point-to-point with single core Kynar wire, normally
used for wire-wrapping.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
use blue, black, red and yellow on the back for -12V, GND,
+5V and +12V.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
use green for all signals, always on the component side.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
lay out the big things like pots, DIL sockets and capacitors
on the board itself, and always try to leave rows of 4 holes
to place resistors flat.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Then
I follow the schematic, which might take several days – this
isn’t a mass-production process.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I
separate each functional block with a pair of pins + a
jumper so I can test on the scope as I go and also so I can
bodge blocks of completed circuits into something else.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Hope
this might help somebody,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Al<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>If
the picture comes through, it’s most of a Thomas Henry
MAXIMUS 3340 VCO.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The
front is just as ugly.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img style="width:3.2812in;height:4.7187in" id="m_5123415820274123231Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:part1.AAB705DC.763E25E9@gmx.de" height="453" width="315"><span><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #e1e1e1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Synth-diy
<a href="mailto:synth-diy-bounces@synth-diy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><synth-diy-bounces@synth-diy.org></a> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Timothy
Burns<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 30 October 2020 15:17<br>
<b>Cc:</b> SYNTH DIY <a href="mailto:synth-diy@synth-diy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><synth-diy@synth-diy.org></a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [sdiy] favorite Youtube genre - "old
guys repairing electronics"<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img style="width:2.3333in;height:2.0625in" id="m_5123415820274123231Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:part2.14771E27.3935A654@gmx.de" height="198" width="224"><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good lord, I wish I watched this
yesterday. Also what the heck, did he <i>plan</i> before he
started soldering in components? What fun is that?<u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for the suggestions of video and
audio channels, this will be great to have on hand as I
re-solder everything from the last 36 hours. <u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I'm not saying I'm going to start now,
but does anyone have suggestions software or shortcuts for
planning perfboard builds? Fritzling? (Asking for a
friend.) <u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks All!<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tim<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 10:34 AM Ryan
B8S <<a href="mailto:ryan@pimpdroid.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">ryan@pimpdroid.com</a>>
wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #cccccc 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not an old guy, but I can't believe
no one mentioned Synth Chaser at Synth Chaser dot com.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/SynthChaser/videos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/c/SynthChaser/videos</a><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">My favorite youtube channel by an
order of magnitude.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 7:08 PM
David Simpson <<a href="mailto:davidosimpson@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">davidosimpson@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #cccccc 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I recently found this video and
was astonished by the skill, technique quietude
ala Bob Villa.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://youtu.be/_ypW45Y8VSs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">How to solder grid style PCB /
555 PWM DC-motor driver (EEEL1-3)</a><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">What are your favorite channels
for informative/instructive electronics repair?
Preferable those who don't yell or are in a
constant state of outrage...<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br clear="all">
<u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">-- <u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">david o.
simpson | cameraperson | <a href="http://binarymob.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">binarymob.com</a>
| earth<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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