How Do You Box It Up?

[audiolife]

So I'm fairly new to actually getting to the point of boxing up a build. I've only had a few successes.

I usually put it on the breadboard and then transfer it to protoboard in the exact same layout as the breadboard. This is both time consuming, not to mention it's like trying to fit an entire breadboard in a tiny metal box.

What is the best method for moving it from the breadboard to something that is boxable? PCB totally eludes me, as does veroboard. Unless I can transfer the exact layout to a permanent protoboard I'm lost on how to make it translate. Have I hit a wall here, and just need to learn how to transfer it to another medium?

[artifus]

have you looked at diylc? https://code.google.com/p/diy-layout-creator/

thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=44838.0

[digi2t]

Have I hit a wall here, and just need to learn how to transfer it to another medium?

Yes.

I too have no PCB skills (yet), but I can say with certainty that my breadboard work is always much bigger insofar a real estate is concerned. I work almost exclusively with vero, which isn't as compact as PCB, sometimes not even close, but way better than transferring bread board work, 1 to 1, if you will. I recommend that you look into DIYLC, as artifus suggested, and maybe take some simple circuit schematics, along with some verified vero, or perfboard layouts of same schematics, and look at how they are laid out. I'm pretty sure that in no time flat, you'll see what the deal is, and you'll be able to design much more compact layouts.

[smallbearelec]

It's an art and a craft. Teaching it systematically is best left to people have been doing it successfully for many years, but you can self-teach enough of it  to be functional if you make use of the resources here. As a student I have gotten better at it, and I think it shows in the design of the Bare Box #1 platform.

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=1286

In part, that enclosure was my attempt to avoid reinventing the wheel for every build; I learned from people like R. G. Keen to establish standard positions for the off-board components. With that done, and a template set up in my layout software for a 60 mm x 60 mm perfboard, I can do the place-and-try that allows me to go from a breadboarded idea:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/BreadboardUrsaMinor/BreadboardUrsaMinor.htm

to a build that is ready to load in the enclosure:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/BareAssBoost/BareAssBoost.htm

Artifus is correct; you want to learn to use layout software like DIYLC. It's a steep learning curve...be patient. Study the mechanical layouts of some of the builds shown on the Forum. Plan The Mechanical Layout Of Your Build First! Then have a crack at laying out your board so that the elements of the circuit fall in the right places.

Good Luck!

[Henry89789]

I've had this problem also, but I am getting better the more I do. I find that what works best for me is to  make a template on paper of the perfboard (save it on the computer so you can print them out as needed) I am using, then draw in the components  using the number of "holes" on the paper that you would have to use on the real board. I arrange the components on the template in a way that makes the connections as easy and direct as possible. Once you feel satisfied with how it is arranged on paper, use the drawing to put the components on the board. Here's an example:

[roseblood11]

Somebody invented a program called "diy layout creator" for that...

[smallbearelec]

Somebody invented a program called "diy layout creator" for that...

Exactly! In my early days, I also hand-drew. I even used Power Point to create layouts. In time, however, I realized that these methods are not efficient. Worse, if your hand-drawing is not exactly to scale, you can wind up wondering why things don't fit...

Learning to use layout software can be a little frustrating at first, but it is worth the pain. DIYLC will do as long as you understand that its output is only good for making your own perf or veroboard layouts. It will not give you CAD files in Gerber format that you can send to a commercial fab to have a printed circuit board made. There was another post here that mentioned an open-source, DIY-friendly program that Would do both gif/jpeg layouts and Gerber files. Might be worth looking into. Alternatives with a steeper learning curve are industrial-strength CAD programs like EAGLE, which is popular here.

So there are choices, depending on your immediate and ultimate needs and your willingness/ability to learn to use new tools.

[Mark Hammer]

Steve's right, as usual.  But I think it also bears mentioning that it's not a crime to start out with larger enclosures than might truly be needed, until such time as you acquire the layout skills to pack things into smaller spaces.  We get accustomed to the 1590B and 125C sized box, we see so many projects built into, and taunted by those 1590A-sized pedals, and seduced into thinking that we ought to be able to shoehorn anything into them.  And very often, you can....just not yet.

For now, work with a bigger box than what you think is truly required.  Give yourself some space.  Transfer things from the breadboard exactly as you see them, and HAVE those resistors and transistors spaced farther apart if that's what lets it work.  As time goes on, you'll learn, bit by bit, that "hmm, if I rotate that over there, and use a jumper here, I can actually make the leads for that pot/switch much shorter, and position it more closely to....".

In many ways, space "forgives" error and lesser planning skills when it comes to boxing up.  A recent thread here focussed on things shorting out during the boxing-up process.  Well, space your pots, jacks, and switches far enough apart, and you won't have to worry about what might be touching what as you tighten the retaining nuts.

Eventually, you'll be able to move from those country-estate-sized boxes, to semi-detached houses, to row houses, down to one of those 780 sq-ft IKEA apartments. 

[gcme93]

I've definitely had very little experience putting my finished circuits in enclosures, and Mark's just said something I 100% agree with.

I finished my pedal on vero board, kept it nice and small (I've had a bit of experience on vero before), then calculated I could fit it into a 1590B. It did eventually fit, but it was an absolute nightmare and looked pretty shoddy by the end because wires were all over the place, and it needed opening up to fix short circuits several times. It's well worth starting in a bigger enclosure just so that it's easier to stay neat, and a lot clearer to sort out if it doesn't quite work properly.

[Jopn]

I'll chime in as a recent noob, but very active one at that.

I tried to fit an orange squeezer into a 1590A as my first boxing up, and it didn't take me long to realize I needed more experience before attempting this.  It's not just the physical spacial issues, but when you're new you've got a steep learning curve.  I tossed it into a 125B instead an I was able to see and understand everything I was doing.  When it came time to troubleshoot some issues, it was much easier to see the path that everything was taking, tweak one thing at a time, and identify the issue.  In the 1590A I had to almost pull everything apart just to get to a point where I could troubleshoot, and by then I probably had disassembled the connection that was causing the short so it would work fine unboxed.

Also, I'll echo the idea that it's a lot easier to build good habits in a larger box.  Figure out the best way to route wires, solder joints, shrink tube your connections, and these skills will pay huge dividends if/when you tackle smaller enclosures.

[duck_arse]

after years of squared paper and pencil, which turns out a real mess after all the erasing and redrawing, I've recently started doing my vero layouts with the parts bent for the breadboard. just follow the circuit and shove parts in the holes (they don't have to be THE parts, or even the right values), move them around, change parts to fit, then draw it on squares when it all seems right.

then move, erase, redraw, etc. you will reduce your build size soon enough.

I make my own boxes, then think of sommink to put in them. I don't even know what 1590A looks like, frankly.