If I need to chop a single row of board then the clippers I use to snip wires does the trick. Otherwise It's as Chuck says - score each side along the next row of holes and snap. I'm sometimes use the edge of a table or something but just snapping against a hard flat surface usually works just fine for me.
One of my favourite bits is doing the layout. I see it as a kind of puzzle and use DIYLC. One thing I try to do is make the layout logical, simple, and with as few long runs of wiring as possible. I like box caps to cover 3 rows which means not having to bend the leads. Two rows is ok at a pinch because you can tuck one of the leads underneath the cap. Electrolytics I prefer over two rows for the same reason - no wires coming out at right angles.
I prefer to have gain wires come out from top left, because I try to keep the gain pot top right of all of my pedals. So top left of the board = top right from outside the box. Similarly I try to always have volume top left as you look at the pedal, so prefer to have Volume 3s wire come of the board top right. Tone wires should be below those because those pots are below the gain and volume. Input should be lowest on the left and if there is an output wire it should be lowest on the right.
Here is a recent layout I did for an experimental Rat:
Ground and 9V are top right because they connect to sockets at the top of the pedal enclosure. It makes everything very straightforward to connect. I don't mind that bass and treble pot wires cross the enclosure - I like the bass pot to be lower left and Treble lower right as you look at the pedal. It actually makes them easier to wire up in an odd way!
I've mentioned this before, but if you're on a Mac (I always am) and you use Preview to see the layouts (Yup, that's what I use!) you can use "Flip horizontal" under "Tools" to flip the image, making cutting out your cuts in the tracks easier. Then just flip it back to install all the parts. Easy! I'm sure there must be an equivalent on a PC.
You can see that all the electrolytics sit over two rows and the box caps either 2 or 3. I don't mind if resistors or diodes have to span only two rows - some people hate that. It just means standing them up like you see in any Ibanez pedal.
And lastly I aim to keep the layout 20 columns or less so that it will fit into a 1590B box.
One of my favourite bits is doing the layout. I see it as a kind of puzzle and use DIYLC. One thing I try to do is make the layout logical, simple, and with as few long runs of wiring as possible. I like box caps to cover 3 rows which means not having to bend the leads. Two rows is ok at a pinch because you can tuck one of the leads underneath the cap. Electrolytics I prefer over two rows for the same reason - no wires coming out at right angles.
I prefer to have gain wires come out from top left, because I try to keep the gain pot top right of all of my pedals. So top left of the board = top right from outside the box. Similarly I try to always have volume top left as you look at the pedal, so prefer to have Volume 3s wire come of the board top right. Tone wires should be below those because those pots are below the gain and volume. Input should be lowest on the left and if there is an output wire it should be lowest on the right.
Here is a recent layout I did for an experimental Rat:
Ground and 9V are top right because they connect to sockets at the top of the pedal enclosure. It makes everything very straightforward to connect. I don't mind that bass and treble pot wires cross the enclosure - I like the bass pot to be lower left and Treble lower right as you look at the pedal. It actually makes them easier to wire up in an odd way!
I've mentioned this before, but if you're on a Mac (I always am) and you use Preview to see the layouts (Yup, that's what I use!) you can use "Flip horizontal" under "Tools" to flip the image, making cutting out your cuts in the tracks easier. Then just flip it back to install all the parts. Easy! I'm sure there must be an equivalent on a PC.
You can see that all the electrolytics sit over two rows and the box caps either 2 or 3. I don't mind if resistors or diodes have to span only two rows - some people hate that. It just means standing them up like you see in any Ibanez pedal.
And lastly I aim to keep the layout 20 columns or less so that it will fit into a 1590B box.
