It is so nice to have AC power. Earlier this week SCE (power company) advised they were once again going to preemptively shut us down. That did not happen and so here I am at 5AM on the computer, eating my hot oatmeal and having a cup of coffee.
Today I thought was a good time to share my tribal knowledge on how to build things. Keep in mind you won't see much on the how to of ugly construction or gluing down pieces of copper squares. My personal take on those methods is akin to doing brain surgery with a rusty spoon.
Neither will I speak about CNC Milling as that puts you into the mode of having to do up front design work to create the G Code and to understand about tolerances and circuit layout.
An aside note here is many hams do 3D printing but avoid CNC milling. In reality the processes for either are very much related and there is a knowledge transfer for those processes. Simply put if you can do one --that opens the door to both.
So, you ask what is left? Now that my jessystems.com is safe again after a Go Daddy screw up there is a link on that index page to N6QW's Konstruction Korner One of the first photos on that page is the answer. Single Sided Copper Vector Board.
The above photo is telling in that on one board we have a mix of Through Hole and Surface Mount. The top surface is coated with a layer of copper and is an excellent ground plane so if a component is grounded simply solder it to the top surface. For those through hole components not to ground the penetration through the top surface is prepared by taking a 1/8-inch drill bit and reaming the penetration hole so as the component passes through hole there is no contact with the top surface.
For our SMD BF991 DGM, the area around the pads is removed using a Dremel tool and the result is isolated pads with plenty of holes to pass through circuit elements connecting to the DGM and finally solder to the BF991. Caution alert: Use a dust proof mask, and eye protection when doing any drilling or cutting of the PCB. That same caution applies if you are using the pre-historic Manhattan construction where you are cutting the small squares. If you use the W1REX Me-Pads, then the simple break off does not present the dust problem.
I use a 2-step process where the 1st step is to take a piece of plain perforated board and place all of the components in such a way as to minimize the underside wiring with an eye to no cross over of wiring. Once there, I take a digital photo which is a road map of how the parts are laid out on the copper vector board. Step-2 is to follow the digital photo and to ream out the holes where the wiring is done on the underside.
The link page also has info on how to make copper boxes, simple test devices and a treatise on how to stuff a junque box.
There is also a section on how to make things work. This is a lengthened version of the word troubleshooting.
A last word about CNC Milling designs -- If I want a second board, I simply punch the start button and no sending Gerber Files off to China.
Them that know can make things go.
73's
Pete N6QW