Homebrew PCBs

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 16:22:36 +0100, sbdwag <sbdwag@...> wrote:

> f anyone has time please critique my first attempt at producing a
>
> etched pcb board. Below are jpegs of the 2x3" board with components
>
> and also a picture of the tranfer image I plan on using.
>
>
> Does anything stand out? All comments are appreciated.
>
>
> http://www.wagsterstuff.com/photos/psbd.jpg
>
> http://www.wagsterstuff.com/photos/psobj.jpg
>
>
> Regards
>
> Dennis Waggoner

Well, i can see you haven't done many layouts, don't get me wrong, it's  
absolutely fine electrically but for me layouts are a bit of an artform...
It's very hard to describe what i think is a nice layout, when i look at  
something, i just see things i don't like, then i change them. I suppose  
make things straighter and neater is part of it, but not everything. I'm  
not at all artistic otherwise, i can't draw or paint at all, i don't like  
most music, actually i really dislike art (at least what they say is art  
these days), but when looking at a layout i will quickly spot stuff i  
dislike, and usually work on it until everything it tolerable to my eye.

There are two technical things i would advise:
Make the small round pads larger, it will be hard to drill and solder as  
it is.
Perhaps increase the isolation distance to the ground plane if you are new  
to transfers.

You can of course use the board, and there is really nothing else i can  
suggest to change since i would have made almost any trace and much of the  
placement differently, but that does not matter. If it is electrically OK  
and looks right for you it's perfect. If you want to tidy it up some more,  
that's allright too ;-)

GO for it!

> Is there any way to edit post after they have been posted?

Not really, since it has gone out per mail, and most people will  
appreciate it very much that a mail they received can't be changed any  
more. Don't worry about it.

ST