ODS Preamp PCB in KiCAD

[dmoose5835]

If anyone feels like having a look, I've made a first pass at a preamp PCB for an ODS to go in a 1RU rack chassis.
I'm still looking at it with a critical eye, and would welcome comment.

ODS183Pre-archive.zip

[dmoose5835]

Hmm. This may not be the right place for this file.
Please advise.

[ElectronAvalanche]

Hi dmoose,

Thank you for this effort. Would it be possible for you to have the schematic and pcb layout exported as a pdf file to have a look at that?

I think that would make it easier to give fast feedback!

Best and thank you,

Electron

[Lauri]

I took a quick look of the PCB layout. You're using too small track width especially on the 12.6VAC input and everything related to it. I would increase the trace width on all traces since there's enough room on the PCB for it.

[didit]

Hmm. This may not be the right place for this file.
Please advise.

You might have placed it in the “PCB Design” sub-forum area.

Best ..

[solderhead]

Hi dmoose,

Thank you for this effort. Would it be possible for you to have the schematic and pcb layout exported as a pdf file to have a look at that?

I think that would make it easier to give fast feedback!

Best and thank you,

Electron

I think this is a very reasonable request. FWIW I downloaded the OP's KiCAD files within a few minutes of his posting them, so I could have a look ... and I couldn't view them because he is using a newer version of KiCAD than I am.

Part of the problem for me is that as a security measure we aren't allowed to run any software that hasn't been vetted for security (ie: we are only able to acquire software .RPMs from our OS distributor); another problem is that we won't use any brand-new release that hasn't been proven bulletproof and suitable for production use. This means that we're always using recent stable branch software that's suitable for production use, but we're almost never using the absolute latest releases. Another problem comes along with making sure that we have deployment of the same software revision on every computer, so that there are no version-related compatibility problems (like I'm having with the OP's files that require a more current release that I have).

I understand the rationale to update to get the latest features, but here we're more concerned about widespread stability so we don't prioritize reaching for an update that could break things. The result was that because we aren't chasing the most recent software release I could not view the OP's files, but I could have done so if he had posted a generic graphic image of the board, like a jpg or a pdf. Another option might be to save/export to an older version file format if the software supports that. (I'm not a KiCAD expert.)

Something to think about.

[dmoose5835]

Thank all y'all!

Version 2, with 1mm tracks on the +12V nets being dropped in the PCB Design Subforum as zipped .PDFs and Gerbers/DRL files

1mm is about 0.04", and that's supposed to be good for several amps. The heaters get wires, so the only real loads are the relay coils.