Chronicle 7: The Trials and Tribulations of Layout Design - Part I
Time for a quick update. No pictures this time because I'm in the layout design stage...
So... I had initially decided to use an off the shelf Hiwatt-style 43 turret per side board for this amp. I started physically laying it out from the schematic and it quickly became clear that I had too many components in my design to fit on this board, especially with the relays (which take 4 turrets per side)... So, then I thought, ok - I'll get a separate narrower board with 20 turrets per side for the 5 relays and use my other board for the other components... No dice. Still too many components... plus too complicated - would be better to have one board
I thought for awhile and decided that to do this right, I need to make my own custom board. I've got a 16" x 3.125" red swirl board that is undrilled. I believe this will work, but I'm not going to try to physically drill, install turrets, etc. without doing a detailed to scale drawing first... I need this anyway to provide as part of the "open source" package so people know how to wire it up...
So, since I want to do this to scale, and I want to do the full amp layout, I contacted a friend on the metroamp board that had done a bunch of very cool and accurate drawings of Marshall amp layouts. I told him about my project and how I was sharing it and asked if, in the interest of sharing, he'd provide me with the source to his drawings and tell me what program he was using. Well, he checked out my project/idea and dug it, so he went WAY beyond the call of duty! He uses a CAD program called TurboCAD. CAD is fairly complicated if you are new to it, but I felt this was an investment I had to make anyway because I'd no longer be at the mercy of a single supplier for chassis's, plates, etc. - since I could produce my own drawings and take them to anyone I want to produce.
He gave me an older version of the TurboCAD program he was no longer using, his library of amp parts, a sample schematic and spent several hours on the phone with me teaching me the basics of CAD drawing to get me started. How cool is that! Knowing and using CAD will allow me to make full size wiring and board layouts and I'll be able to provide them in many constituent parts and views so people know how to build the amp from scratch. I can create board templates for drilling and completely perfect my design before going any further.
So that is where I am today. I'm using CAD to develop my board and overall layout so I'll know exactly where each and every wire and component will go before I drill my custom board. I'm still learning CAD and this will take some time, but it will pay dividends in the long run. I'll post my layouts as soon as I'm finished, but as I said, it will take some time. That is why I'm not soldering anything right now - I need this right first...
Steve
The only thing I don't like is the script for the logo name. That's just me though, my partner use to use that for our store logo and it drove me crazy. Doesn't look bold enough to me.
really nice layout. I like the logo, its kinda understated, but classy. Looks like your in for the real fun now 
LET THE MADNESS BEGIN 
