Anticipating good things

[TUBEDUDE]

How exciting,
I'm looking forward to seeing a good circuit board design that I would choose to use rather than implementing the design as PtoP or turret board construction. I have seen only bad designs apparently. I would like to build one of my designs as a CCB for A/B testing, so I need to soak up the knowledge that will populate this space. Or, in the short term, find a really good program that has the general approval of the circuit board mandarins here and runs on OSX.

[xtian]

Lou! Can you post info about the precision PSU board you made? Or the Reverb board, or any other of your awesome projects?

[Phil_S]

Lou makes great PCB's!

[AtomCap]

Anyone here use KiCad, diptrace?

[stephenl]

It might be hard to get agreement, but it would be good if we could pick one (freeware) program and manufacturer to use so everyone could learn/work together?

[Guy77]

I am so glad to see a PCB section on this forum!!! I have been wanting to learn to design PCBs for preamps. I also think its great if we pick one program.
Cheers

Guy

[chief mushroom cloud]

I agree about using a single program.
My vote is for KiCad EDA.
Open source, multiplatform, powerful, in constant heavy development, very intuitive interface.
http://kicad-pcb.org/

Other than that, Autodesk Eagle. A lot of guys are using it (Bruce Egnater, Engl, AmPete, original Friedman files, etc). I have 7.7. (It is not my primary pcb design software, but I can use it and know it's shortcomings)
The free version gives you 2 layer and ~8in x12in (~240sq cm) board space, but only single page schematic (that is a serious shortcoming for an amp or serious pro audio design). For $100 a yr license, you get 4 layers and more sch sheets and bigger board area.
And it's multi platform.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/free-download

Any other suggestions?

[brewdude]

Does multi platform mean it will run on Mac OS?

[chief mushroom cloud]

Does multi platform mean it will run on Mac OS?

Yea. If we can help each other regardless of platform...there's considerably more knowledge to be gained....and designs can be efficiently passed around and reviewed/critiqued/berated/stolen/corrupted/bemused..../.../...

[brewdude]

Cool... I don’t have a PC anymore. In fact I rarely use the Mac anymore either... mostly my iPhone.

[brewdude]

I don’t really know anything about PCB design, but I’ve always thought that the concept of miniaturizing the circuit was likely to be less then ideal for tube amp applications.

[pompeiisneaks]

PCB's aren't just for miniaturization, they can also just be easier to mass produce and so long as well designed, lead to faster production times.

~Phil

[Rockwell666]

I have no vote on which platform. I have zero experience but I will download the agreed upon platform to have some fun and learn I have ordered a bunch of hoffmans relay and relay PS boards. those would be helpful in custom builds.

[pompeiisneaks]

Yeah and imagine if you could build the entire thing with high quality traces, good signal separation and relays in line with the signal path on the board... makes everything easier

~Phil

[Deric]

I downlaoded KiCad. I'm an idiot when it comes to learning new software but will give it a shot.