Al Heeley Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I'm getting together some stuff to make a few custom PCB's for people on the UK Guitar Buiders forum. Generally we're talking about small etched and drilled PCB's to put together a stompbox pedal - tubescreamer, micro-amp, compressor, treble booster, that sort of thing (-the simpler circuits!). If there's anyone frequenting this forum that's into making their own pedal or interested in having a go, and needs a pcb etching, let me know, and for a nominal fee to my Paypal account to cover consumables I will knock one out for you. Alternatively if you're interested in having a go yourself, I posted up a How-To guide somewhere, pm me and I'll sned you the link. I realise this is a particularly niche and geeky area so am not expecting floods of requests, otherwise I may have to go out and commandeer more lolly sticks and Chinese take-away containers for my production line. Quote
YouMa Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='486099' date='May 12 2009, 04:42 PM']I'm getting together some stuff to make a few custom PCB's for people on the UK Guitar Buiders forum. Generally we're talking about small etched and drilled PCB's to put together a stompbox pedal - tubescreamer, micro-amp, compressor, treble booster, that sort of thing (-the simpler circuits!). If there's anyone frequenting this forum that's into making their own pedal or interested in having a go, and needs a pcb etching, let me know, and for a nominal fee to my Paypal account to cover consumables I will knock one out for you. Alternatively if you're interested in having a go yourself, I posted up a How-To guide somewhere, pm me and I'll sned you the link. I realise this is a particularly niche and geeky area so am not expecting floods of requests, otherwise I may have to go out and commandeer more lolly sticks and Chinese take-away containers for my production line.[/quote] If you get round to doing the qtron or Mutron 3 clone i would be very interested as long as the qualitys very good,i have a nightmare trying to get certain parts for pedals im building while in the u.s. its dead easy to get anything even old bucket brigadr chips and the like. Quote
lemmywinks Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='486099' date='May 12 2009, 04:42 PM']....I will knock one out for you. .....[/quote] Sorry, i'll grow up one day! Quote
Al Heeley Posted May 12, 2009 Author Posted May 12, 2009 [quote name='YouMa' post='486149' date='May 12 2009, 05:18 PM']If you get round to doing the qtron or Mutron 3 clone i would be very interested as long as the qualitys very good,i have a nightmare trying to get certain parts for pedals im building while in the u.s. its dead easy to get anything even old bucket brigadr chips and the like.[/quote] If you post me a link to the pcb I'll have a look at it. Quote
Buzz Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 Would you entertain orders for other non musical etchings if supplied with circuit printouts? Just a thought for those people who do hobby electronics, also, how much is all the etching gear costing if you don't mind my asking? I remember the heat tanks not being too expensive, but UV boxes were extortionate iirc (or it's the other way around). Quote
Al Heeley Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 Yes no problem if its not too big/complex (like anything over 40 components and 3 IC's I deem too complex) The etching gear is not expensive if you go the non-uv route, you can use a laser printer to print onto the blue press'n'peel paper which is heat-transferred to the pcb blank then etched in the normal way with ferric chloride. What put me off for a long time was it is a faff getting all the stuff when you only want to do 1 or 2 stompbox circuits, so I tried with Veroboard a few times but had little success. Once you have the gear its not too much trouble rattling off a few small boards. They make the circuits so much easier to put together and guarantee a far greater chance of success. I'm going to charge a measly £2.50 per board if its a stompbox-size one plus a flat rate £1 for p&p. Send me the pcb image and I'll have a look for you. Quote
stevie Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='486587' date='May 13 2009, 07:52 AM']I'm going to charge a measly £2.50 per board if its a stompbox-size one plus a flat rate £1 for p&p. Send me the pcb image and I'll have a look for you.[/quote] That's an amazing deal! Quote
dannybuoy Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 I'll definitely be in touch, I have a load of pedals I want to build. Won't be straight away as I'm still at the acquiring parts and experimenting with breadboards stage! Quote
Dood Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 Cheers Al, I'm sure - if I ever pull my finger out and design some boards, I will be in touch! Thanks! Quote
cheddatom Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='dood' post='486823' date='May 13 2009, 12:25 PM']....if I ever pull my finger out...[/quote] But pulling it OUT is the best bit!! Quote
rmorris Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='486587' date='May 13 2009, 06:52 AM']Yes no problem if its not too big/complex (like anything over 40 components and 3 IC's I deem too complex) The etching gear is not expensive if you go the non-uv route, you can use a laser printer to print onto the blue press'n'peel paper which is heat-transferred to the pcb blank then etched in the normal way with ferric chloride. What put me off for a long time was it is a faff getting all the stuff when you only want to do 1 or 2 stompbox circuits, so I tried with Veroboard a few times but had little success. Once you have the gear its not too much trouble rattling off a few small boards. They make the circuits so much easier to put together and guarantee a far greater chance of success. I'm going to charge a measly £2.50 per board if its a stompbox-size one plus a flat rate £1 for p&p. Send me the pcb image and I'll have a look for you.[/quote] Hi How would you be looking to receive pcb images ? 1:1 plot / Gerber / ODB++ etc... Quote
Mikey R Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Al, when I finally get round to prototyping something I might have to give you a call! [quote name='Al Heeley' post='487823' date='May 14 2009, 12:57 PM']JPG, PDF, PSD, GIF, BMP, etc. please[/quote] do you know of any free software for laying out circuit boards? In the past, Ive always done it the analogue way using OHP film, a permanant marker and some transfers for the IC pins, but maybe its time to go a bit more digital. Quote
rmorris Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Mikey R' post='506648' date='Jun 5 2009, 09:34 PM']Al, when I finally get round to prototyping something I might have to give you a call! do you know of any free software for laying out circuit boards? In the past, Ive always done it the analogue way using OHP film, a permanant marker and some transfers for the IC pins, but maybe its time to go a bit more digital. [/quote] I don't know about totally free or low cost packages although Easy PC is probably worth checking out. But ORCAD ( Cadence ) is still available as a fully functioning program as long as you have a maximum of ( I think ) 30 components. You'd need to check that info' but I think it's right. btw for anyone looking to get on board with a full pro level system Altium Designer have cut the price to about £3K in response to the current market conditions I think according to my latest email from the UK vendor. ( I've used it in my last 3 jobs but not currently ) Lots of £s I know but useful info' if anyone is looking at investing a middle level product. Last time I bought it ( not with my own money ! ) in 2007 it cost £5K - £6K and it's been updated a few times since. Edited June 5, 2009 by rmorris Quote
Al Heeley Posted June 5, 2009 Author Posted June 5, 2009 Have a read thru this post here: [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=44838.0"]http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/inde...p?topic=44838.0[/url] Quote
dannybuoy Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 Eagle CAD make a free version of their software, although you need to download some parts libraries (links somewhere on diystompboxes). It can auto route your PCBs too. For simpler circuits or vero layouts, DIY Layout Creator is great. Quote
Rich Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 [quote name='Al Heeley' post='486099' date='May 12 2009, 04:42 PM']I'm getting together some stuff to make a few custom PCB's for people on the UK Guitar Buiders forum. Generally we're talking about small etched and drilled PCB's to put together a stompbox pedal - tubescreamer, micro-amp, compressor, treble booster, that sort of thing (-the simpler circuits!). If there's anyone frequenting this forum that's into making their own pedal or interested in having a go, and needs a pcb etching, let me know, and for a nominal fee to my Paypal account to cover consumables I will knock one out for you. Alternatively if you're interested in having a go yourself, I posted up a How-To guide somewhere, pm me and I'll sned you the link. I realise this is a particularly niche and geeky area so am not expecting floods of requests, otherwise I may have to go out and commandeer more lolly sticks and Chinese take-away containers for my production line.[/quote] Would you be able to do double-sided boards? Quote
Al Heeley Posted June 7, 2009 Author Posted June 7, 2009 No sorry, that's beyond the basic equipment I have available at home. Quote
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