First Time PCB Design - Help Request

[Munro306]

I've spent a fair bit of time and energy learning KiCad and have come up with a completed project and would really appreciate help in making sure I didn't make any obvious mistakes.

I've spent several hours reviewing these sources to learn how KiCad works and best practices:

• Contextual Electronics - Getting to Blinky 5.0
• DigiKey - An Intro to KiCad
• KiCad Like a Pro, 3rd Edition, written by Dr. Peter Dalmaris

I've placed my project files in this GitHub repository. Feel free to open this up in KiCad and poke around.

Suggestions welcome on anything related to design, aesthetics, best practices, or other. Again, this is my first attempt and looking for feedback.

Some of the design choices made are as follows:

• Trace widths: signal 10 mils, power 24 mils
• Ground planes: added to both the front and bottom copper layers
• Pot/Switch Spacing: followed this convention from Robert, this design is 3 knobs (2 top, 1 lower middle) with a switch lined up with the bottom center knob (0.65" horizontal spacing, 1" vertical spacing, and a switch is offset vertically by 0.63")
• Pad/hole sizings:
  
  • Pads for accepting wire from footswitch [Pad Diameter: 2mm, Hole Diameter: 1.2mm]
  • Pads for accepting pots: [Pad Diameter: 2.54mm, Hole Diameter: 1.4mm]
  • Pads for accepting resistors: [Pad Diameter: 2mm, Hole Diameter: 1.0mm]

• Design Rules for my board: Planning to use JLCPCB for manufacturing

• Schematic:

• Front Copper:

• Back Copper:

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[rwl]

At a glance it looks good though I'm just a beginner too. I'd suggest lining up the components below R102 and D3, since you're so close to symmetry, those stand out.

Also add a text label with your name for the PCB - will make it easier to remember.

You might want to nudge D100 slightly up and R6 slightly down to give the IC more room to breathe.

I'd also drop the trace between C3 and C4 - or keep it and reroute R101 to C3 - shorter trace and you can avoid one crossover I think.

Personally I'd push the LED up to line up with the center point of the top pots - would give more room in the center and then the LED can go straight through the case without bending the leads. Look at e.g. switch placement on the Glory Hole as an example. This bit needs to fairly narrow to avoid colliding with jacks.

 

[Nostradoomus]

At a glance it looks good though I'm just a beginner too. I'd suggest lining up the components below R102 and D3, since you're so close to symmetry, those stand out.

Also R102/R1/R3 should be in line with the diodes. I mean if you're gonna copy the master, ya gotta step up

(not a real dig at you @Munro306 lol, I get it's for learning)

 

[rwl]

Yeah, that's what I meant .

 

[Nostradoomus]

I absolutely read the wrong part of your post and quoted it first hahah

 

[Robert]

You might want to give C2, C5, C6 a little room to make soldering the pots easier.

I solder pots from the other side of the board so it really doesn't matter, but some folks are against that idea and would rather melt caps.

 

[Munro306]

Thanks for the feedback, it’s very much appreciated!

I decided to give myself more room for soldering by rearranging the capacitors and spreading out the resistors and diodes. This process has really given me an appreciation for the skill and art involved in laying out PCBs to look good. I chose to prioritize functionality over aesthetics by spacing out the components more. While it may not be as nice and compact as your layout, Robert, I hope this makes it a bit easier to solder.

 

[Brett]

I feel that I should preface what I am about to say with the following:
This forum is one of, if not the best on the web for pedal building. Its members are some of the kindest and most welcoming. PedalPCB's owner, @Robert, is always friendly and generous with his insights. I generally try to be welcoming and helpful as much as possible, like many others here do. You are welcome to stop reading at this point if you'd rather not read what I'm about to say.

---

All of that being said, I'm a bit perplexed by this post and your previous post where you asked forum members to review your schematic and tell you if you went wrong somewhere. You copied PedalPCB's schematic, then came to PedalPCB's forums to ask for help to make sure you copied it correctly. You made a couple mistakes that were pointed out to you. You then proceed to share your work where we discover that you've basically copied PedalPCB's layout (almost verbatim) of the same pedal, then share the work and ask if you've done a good job.

I understand that you're trying to learn how to use the software to create schematics and layouts, but you're plagiarizing someone else's efforts and (I could be misinterpreting this) are trying to pass it off as if you've come up with the design yourself using all this experience and knowledge you've gained from spending "several hours" studying a few how-to KiCad resources.

Suggestions welcome on anything related to design, aesthetics, best practices, or other. Again, this is my first attempt and looking for feedback.

It's a fantastic first attempt, but to me, a first attempt typically indicates an attempt at a layout of your own, not copying someone else's work.

I've spent a fair bit of time and energy learning KiCad and have come up with a completed project

You've come up with a completed project replica. A replica that you're now seeking feedback for from the very same place you copied the schematic and the layout. You've made the project available publicly where anyone can download the files and order a PCB themselves, potentially bypassing the very person who depends on board sales to sustain his business. Not only that, but @Robert, being the gentleman that he his, still proceeds to give you advice on how to improve your layout (since your copy of his layout wasn't spaced out enough).

I promise that I'm not trying to seem overly critical of you here, but all of this feels like it's in poor taste. You have 7 posts total on this forum and all of them so far have involved your attempts to clone a board that PedalPCB sells and then making it available to the public.

 

[Nostradoomus]

it's weird

 

[bean]

It's a good layout for first time. Impressive, actually. But..I would move the weight pot under the gain pot for a more traditional 4 control layout. Also, align the centers of C1 and the resistors above. Just looks better, IMO. Good job!

 

[Brett]

It's a good layout for first time. Impressive, actually.

I’d be impressed too if I didn’t see that it’s almost identical to Robert’s.

 

[bean]

I’d be impressed too if I didn’t see that it’s almost identical to Robert’s.

Didn't see that. Well, IMO there's nothing wrong in copying a layout as a means to simply learn how to do it. But, you are absolutely right: the files shouldn't be made public in this case (this is why I should read all replies before vomiting out my opinion).

 

[Munro306]

My sincere apologies @Robert , there wasn't any malintent here. The github repo has been deleted (it wouldn't have worked anyways as there were flaws in the design). I was just trying to use an established design to learn kicad. I think this forum is a great resource for people, and didnt mean to take anything away from that.

Appreciate the feedback everyone.