Books or other resources on GOOD PCB design

[Vertigo]

I'm having a go at making a PCB for a stereo amp and space is rather tight. Before I go too far down the rabbit hole I'd love to read up on some fundamentals of PCB layout and design and any suggestions would be appreciated.

[dorrisant]

RG Keen is on here... maybe he'll reply. His book "PCB Layout For Musical Effects" is excellent. I cannot seem to find a place to buy a copy at the moment. If you can find it, you may not need much else, besides tutorials and experience with the software. What are you using? If it is DIYLC or Kicad, I may be able to help.

[martin manning]

Here's a good start: http://alternatezone.com/electronics/fi ... alRevA.pdf The price is hard to beat.

[Vertigo]

Thank you both. I'll read through that PDF this evening.

I've been using DIYLC for the past few years and have used it to print masks for a few simple PCB's. The one I'm working on right now is a copy of a preamp I own so I can make mods without devaluing the original piece. Being a stereo pre with a couple of cathode followers and a stereo effects loops, I'm pretty tight on space on the PCB layout I've made and the homemade pcb's aren't going to cut it. I've been learning KiCAD, finished a couple of versions of a layout and want to have my best chance of doing a reasonable job with it before I spend the money on boards and components only to realize that I put a messy combination of traces in places that will lead to an incurable hum or worse

[dorrisant]

If you upload the source files I might be able to help. It seems like I never stop tweaking layouts with DIYLC or Kicad...

[bepone]

I'm having a go at making a PCB for a stereo amp and space is rather tight. Before I go too far down the rabbit hole I'd love to read up on some fundamentals of PCB layout and design and any suggestions would be appreciated.

for tube circuits?
here are some quick, but to make pcb you need to be expert in all areas or at least very good knowledge, because when finishing pcb, thats it! it stays there /until you start to chop the traces on finished pcb ..so random made pcb will result like random sound/problematic also.

make pcb as big as possible with maximum distance between the components (for many reasons)
Ub+ wires minimum 5-7mm far away from the others!
do as much clearance possible arround the tube socket pins!
do as thick as possbile every wire on pcb!
do as thick as possible every pcb copper trace despite the high pcb cost (70-105 umm copper thickness)
follow and route the signal in proper way
do the grounding properly and dont mix hi and low signal currents
thicker pcb is better mechanically and temp. wise so take 2-2.5 mm avoid 1.6mm pcb

there is million other small tricks about components heating, placing to have better cooling, to make holes on pcb for the cooling, to force currents exactly on the components pads, layout when paraleling capacitors...which comes with experience

[imjonwain]

Following along with the last note. I would say more so than thickness of the laminate pay attention to the material (probably FR4) and it's temp rating. There can be a significant different between the FR4 used by various board houses and some offer various temperature ratings. OSHpark boards aren't the cheapest but their material specs are decent for USA fab boards at their price point.

[MidnightArrakis]

If you upload the source files I might be able to help. It seems like I never stop tweaking layouts with DIYLC or Kicad...

Based upon the PCB shown in your image.....I would miter the routes using 45-degree angles at the bottom-center of your board to eliminate the 90-degree right-angles, as doing that is a general PCB-layout "NO-NO"!!! You should increase the spacing of the route on the V1/Pin-3 away from Pin-2 and you should either: A) increase your via pad-size and drill-size and/or B) include multiple vias on those tracks shown near the center of your board (i.e., R4 and B+3). By using such small via drill-sizing, you are increasing the inductance of the via along with increasing its impedance/resistance.

That's all for now!!!

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