layout transfers?

[chuckb]

Hey guy, I've seen some people who build their own turret boards and transfer the layout to the board via a paper copy of the layout. Where/how to you come by these printable layout outs. Is there a program I need in order to be able to do this?

Chuck.

[tedmich]

many over at AX84 use a members original freeware (Bancika) for layouts found here:
Software : DIY Fever ? Building my own guitars, amps and pedals

or Canvas or Illustrator but those have a pretty steep learning curve (and price if bought ; ))

Open Office (also free) has a fairly usable drawing program and I have had great luck doing PnP toner transfer PCBs with Photoshop, usually for reproducing old Peavey single sided circuit boards. Drilling and swaging turrets is definitely easier than etching IME!

[Zozobra]

I have used Inkscape for this purpose before in the past. Reasonably good free vector drawing package. In the end though I find I work quicker and more efficiently using 5mm squared paper. Certainly the initial design of the layout is much quicker that way. Vector graphics packages do have their advantages if you really need to take into account component size into your layout if space is a problem. I seldom care about that now though as I doubt I'll ever build another multichannel amp again!

[defaced]

I draw my own. I do mine in Illustrator (very similar to Inkscape), but could easily do them on graph paper. I use a standard component layout (standard for me at least) that spaces the components on 3/8" centers and has various lengths depending on where it's going (ground, another signal, two parts in series, etc). Careful part selection has allowed me to use this basic approach regardless of what's on the schematic.

[loudthud]

I do a layout with pencil on grid paper. Usually at 1X scale for tube eyelet/turret boards, 2X for solid state. On the 1X layouts I tape the finished layout to the board and use a scribe to mark where the holes will be located. Then remove and drill. On solid state I like to use the boards like you can get a Radio Shack with holes on a 0.100 inch grid and copper pads on one side. Where wires connect to the board, I install Keystone #3 or #4 eyelets depending on how big and how many wires need to connect there. Eyelets are also used for power transistors.

I now do layouts from the component side. It takes a little practice to be able to make connections correctly on the solder side when you flip the board over. When I started doing this in high school I did the layout from the solder side. Most transistors (TO-5) had the Base on the left, Collector on top and Emitter on the bottom so the layout was close to the schematic.