freestompboxes.org

Hey everyone,

So this may not be that exciting to anybody, but I'm a total newb and I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I can. My financial situation sucks right now (wife is out of work and my work has been slow), which means I don't currently have the means to build pedals, so what I have been doing is really studying peoples layouts and trying to get better at reading schematics and doing my own layouts until things change and I can build up my collection of parts and go then go crazy with the builds. Anyway, I say that to say this.

I did my very first PBC layout this week using the schematic for the Guild - Brian May Box on analogguru's sitehttp://analogguru.100free.com/193/schem ... MayBox.gif . It seemed like a simple enough circuit to attempt my first layout. I was just wondering if some of you could look at it and tell me if it's a good layout, things that I should change, and any other opinions. Go to town, let me have it, it's the only way I'll learn

Thanks everyone for this great resource, especially to madbean for telling me how to put together the image file that is attatched. Thanks for the patience with newbs such as myself. Let me know what you think.

Ian

p.s. - i did use the search function and didn't see another layout for this. if i missed it then i am sorry, but i did search before i posted this

Hi, I haven't looked over your pcb yet but it looks good. If you are a bit down on luck or whatever at the moment I've got some pc boards I've made and can send to you 'cause don't have the time to finish them. My wife is about to have twins so I'm time and money poor. I can't remember what they are off the top of my head but, if you PM a mailing address I can send them to you. P.S. If I don't reply quickly to a response, I'm just time poor.
Cheers, Rhandy (Damien Cameron).

rhandy gaye wrote:Hi, I haven't looked over your pcb yet but it looks good. If you are a bit down on luck or whatever at the moment I've got some pc boards I've made and can send to you 'cause don't have the time to finish them. My wife is about to have twins so I'm time and money poor. I can't remember what they are off the top of my head but, if you PM a mailing address I can send them to you. P.S. If I don't reply quickly to a response, I'm just time poor.
Cheers, Rhandy (Damien Cameron).

Hey man,
That is really awesome of you to offer what you have. I really appreciate it. I see from your profile that you are in Australia, and I'm in good ole Tennessee, so the international shipping cost may not be the best decision for me right now. But I really do appreciate it. When I first started browsing these forums one of the first things I noticed was how helpful and responsive of a community of people are on here and it blew me away. And this is another example of that. Thanks again. I hope that things pick up for the both of us and congrats on the twins! Thats awesome! I actually am having a lot of fun trying to come up with layouts and it's taking up probably just about as much time as actually building would. At least now when things pick up the layouts will be done and all thats left is the build. Thanks again, it does mean a lot to me! And thanks for the kind words about my layout.

Ian

Hi, I'm not rich but I'll send them for free.

irmcdermott wrote:I was just wondering if some of you could look at it and tell me if it's a good layout, things that I should change, and any other opinions. Go to town, let me have it, it's the only way I'll learn

Your PCB looks really good !
I did not check the schematic for correctness, but it seems that you understood very well how to use Eagle : ground pour, thermal rings, wide & short traces, use of the grid, compactness ... Great work !

Maybe you could make a couple of bucks (or trade parts) from lazy people requesting layouts all the time ...[/color]

I have to scratch my head to find improvement suggestions :

• You could add a couple of mounting holes in the corners.
• The trace from pin 2 of the pot to the output is not absolutely necessary : it can be done by offboard wiring (you save a couple of centimeters of cable and a couple of grammes of solder).
• For easier manufacture, some industrial designs arrange all polarized components in the same direction : it's less error-prone, at the expense of more space or a more complicated routing.
• Sometimes, the caps are bigger than you think ... maybe using .2" pad spacing for the electrolytics would be more practical.
• Be proud of your york, put your name or pseudo on it, and maybe some (Free/Open Source) licence like Creative Commons or KloneRight !

looks way better than my first layout. shit, it looks better than my last layout!

Thanks for all the insight! I'll definitely take everything you said into consideration. Definitely was some much needed encouragement after my layout/schematic of the Catalinbread HyperPak was not so well received today, haha. Oh well, it's all a learning process, and i'm open to criticism. Thanks again guys.

Ian

Hi, which transistors are you using? The MPS8098 are obsolete and kind of hard to get.

I saw the MPS8098 on mouser (http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.asp ... rd=mps8098) so I didn't think they were obsolete. I'm new to this, so i just figured if they had them I could use them. Like I said in a previous post, I haven't had a chance to build, just worked on a layout. If anyone is interested I can post a PnP file, just realized I didn't do that. I'll have to do it later because I gotta get to work.

Ian

irmcdermott,
Your layout looks damn nice. Did you just teach yourself how to operate the Eagle format?
Impressive my man. Not only should you sign your work but if I was interviewing applicants
for hire I'd like to see an example of a fellows desire and self motivation like this in his/her
resume as well.
Shoot me a PM with a BOM for your parts needs and I'll fill the the order to the best of my
bilities gratis. You seem like a good bloke to have on the team.

When you're working again you'll be starved for personal time and building shit will get no
play. Tu sabes?

Best wishes,
Noel Grassy.

noelgrassy wrote:Did you just teach yourself how to operate the Eagle format?

Everything I've learned in Eagle I owe to spending time reading every page on the Eagle threads on both this and the other forum over and over again, and then just working hours at a time trying to figure it out. I'm so thankful for this forum. Thanks again, I'm going to PM you to respond to the rest of the thread!

Ian

Ian,

PM resulted in my PM oddly enough.

Ding dang high falutin' interwebs. What with their
browsing surfers and textiling and hula-hoops and gene splitting..... Bah!

Some images of the actual thing:

Thanks! I will be curious to see how you make out.

What's this thing sound like?

Sorry to bother you with another gutshot

You are right all kinds of Yuk with it cranked but it sure sounds nice on the first two parts with or without the buffer.

ibodog2 wrote:

my7of9 wrote:You are right all kinds of Yuk with it cranked but it sure sounds nice on the first two parts with or without the buffer.

Umm... replaced the BC239 with BC549 and that Yuk is gone now!

I don't have any BC549's just BC550's I will have to check the datasheets. What HFE's did you use? Any preference?

Very nice PCB!
Have you posted any ready to transfer image?
Thx!

As I've said, i made this layout, but it is unverified because I haven't been able to etch it and build it, but here is a transfer image.