I have a schematic for a 20 watt battery powered guitar amplifier. What steps do I take to get to the PCB stage?
I am not electronically inclined. To me electricity is "PFM" Pure F..ing Magic. So some directions would be helpful
I am not electronically inclined. To me electricity is "PFM" Pure F..ing Magic. So some directions would be helpful
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Can you post the schematic so we can see what you want to do exactly?
Can you post the schematic so we can see what you want to do exactly?
Okay. Well its like this, designing a printed circuit board from a schematic is a fair amount of work. There is also a learning curve to go through at first. In fact, designing a PCB from a schematic is a full time professional job at some big companies. Same thing for designing a case for a guitar amp. There are PCB design computer programs, like there are CAD CAM programs from hardware designers.
So, question is do want to learn PCB design as a hobby, or do you just want to make a guitar amp for less cost than buying a new or used one, or what is your end goal here?
So, question is do want to learn PCB design as a hobby, or do you just want to make a guitar amp for less cost than buying a new or used one, or what is your end goal here?
In this case I would say I need to go the hobby route. The project is not necessarily a one off thing. The PCB would evolve over time. At some point I might get some help but at this stage I will do the leg work
Alright then.
First thing is that a schematic like you have now doesn't contain all the information you would need to get started.
You need to put together a Bill of Materials (BOM), with specific part numbers of each component on the schematic you want to use.
That's because there are all kinds of shapes and sizes of parts, and the PCB will need to be designed specifically for the parts you choose.
You will also need to identify parts not shown on the schematic such as any connectors, battery holder, speaker, etc.
You need to collect datasheets for each part, which is the document that contains electrical and mechanical information you will need.
Then you are ready to start in a PCB design program such as KiCad. Its actually a free suite of programs that are used for different phases of PCB design. The basic steps are as follows:
1. Get your component libraries together (these are files that contain information KiCad will need to know about your BOM components).
2. Enter your schematic into KiCad (by hand, with a mouse).
3. Send schematic and component library info over to the PCB design app and start designing the actual PCB
When you are done with that you have the PCB editor produce a set of files called Gerbers. You send those to a PCB manufacturing plant to have your PCBs made. Usual there is some minimum number of boards you have to order, say, maybe 5 boards.
A few weeks later your boards are delivered and you start assembling components on a board, then test it to see if it works. If not, you may need a multimeter and an oscilloscope to figure out what the problem is.
If all that sounds okay as an undertaking, the I would suggest to start reading and or watching youtube videos that are a tutorial walkthrough of how to get started with, say, for example, KiCad.
As an additional note in this case there are couple of special ICs shown on your schematic. They are marked IC1 and IC2. You would need to see who sells those and whether or not they are still available or if they are obsolete. Most of the other stuff you can buy at places like Mouser and DigiKey.
First thing is that a schematic like you have now doesn't contain all the information you would need to get started.
You need to put together a Bill of Materials (BOM), with specific part numbers of each component on the schematic you want to use.
That's because there are all kinds of shapes and sizes of parts, and the PCB will need to be designed specifically for the parts you choose.
You will also need to identify parts not shown on the schematic such as any connectors, battery holder, speaker, etc.
You need to collect datasheets for each part, which is the document that contains electrical and mechanical information you will need.
Then you are ready to start in a PCB design program such as KiCad. Its actually a free suite of programs that are used for different phases of PCB design. The basic steps are as follows:
1. Get your component libraries together (these are files that contain information KiCad will need to know about your BOM components).
2. Enter your schematic into KiCad (by hand, with a mouse).
3. Send schematic and component library info over to the PCB design app and start designing the actual PCB
When you are done with that you have the PCB editor produce a set of files called Gerbers. You send those to a PCB manufacturing plant to have your PCBs made. Usual there is some minimum number of boards you have to order, say, maybe 5 boards.
A few weeks later your boards are delivered and you start assembling components on a board, then test it to see if it works. If not, you may need a multimeter and an oscilloscope to figure out what the problem is.
If all that sounds okay as an undertaking, the I would suggest to start reading and or watching youtube videos that are a tutorial walkthrough of how to get started with, say, for example, KiCad.
As an additional note in this case there are couple of special ICs shown on your schematic. They are marked IC1 and IC2. You would need to see who sells those and whether or not they are still available or if they are obsolete. Most of the other stuff you can buy at places like Mouser and DigiKey.
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Okay, I have found some similar schematics that have parts list. So, I am a step closer to my goal. I do have a question, how small can I shrink a board?
Its possible to make boards as small as you can figure out how to mount all the parts on. However, PCB manufacturing plants may have minimum size requirements. If you need smaller boards than that, they may require that you "panel-ize" the boards. It means you design a bigger board kind of like a checkerboard where each square in the checkerboard is a final size small board. They make the checkerboards for you then score them so they can be broken apart cleanly into individual small squares or rectangles later when you are ready. Maybe after all the components are soldered on the board, if that works better for your manufacturing process.