aquataur
Member
The term „professional“ hast recently undergone severe deterioration. I have to talk about that for a bit. Somebody is deemed „amateurish“ if a person is not good at the elusive task he is trying to accomplish.
This is most certainly the case for music-electronics forae like this, where there quite obviously a war rages over who makes the most appealing PCBs and who the flashiest case and how fast and how many. I assume it is a totally unconscious motivation that leads to such behavior.
Take HAM radio „amateurs“. They are far from this connotation of „amateur“. They are, on the contrary, very knowledgeable in their field and usually fueled by heart and soul. Sometimes not even for applause. Very many inventors belong to that kind and not so much the ones who have a degree in the matter.
„Amateur“ in its original sense means „somebody excels at a certain subject, whose primary motivation is the love for the subject rather than the necessity to earn an income“.
Because if you have to earn an income, you are forced to be effective and efficient. Let’s take the field of guitar effects unit. This is a huge industry branch, and industry primary goal is to make money again and again, and not to make a unit that is long lasting, economic on the long run, repairable and reliable. Their main goal is not to make the best product for the customer, but for their own interest. Things have to hold up only as long as warranty lasts. And of course, they have experts for that – professionals…
So for the badmouthing of amateurs (in the original sense), and the corrosion of the term, it is not far-fetched if one assumes intent. Please take a moment to let the implications of that on your motivations soak in somewhat.
I have been designing PCBs for my whole life, and I have been teaching PCB design for two decades now, but I have to admit to myself that I barely touched upon the surface of this art.
Circuits that process very large or very small signals, very high or low impedances, very high or low frequencies, need ultimate care as far as track layout and component placement goes.
My first and foremost design goals became reliability, low noise, repair-ability, modify-ability, reliability.
Although I like to apply a certain aesthetic touch to my designs, I do not let that interfere with the other goals, since I do not need to cater for volume production. To maintain those criteria, I use the following design approaches:
If you look at PCB designs say from Boss, those are genuinely thought about and evolved, although they clearly are not meant to live forever, else they would be out of job soon. Those are made to be „professional“.
However I see plenty of designs predominantly from those who churn out PCBs of clones of boutique units at a phenomenal rate, that are clearly compromised technically. Every Chinese PCB making company makes flashy looking PCBs according to your specs cheaply, so this is not a criterion for a good PCB. Just good looking. Try to unsolder anything on those and you know what i mean. Although those companies are making those boards for a living, I see many boards that seem to be driven by space and good visual appeal. Sometimes I wonder if they just get away with murder with those designs and I wonder how good they are as engineers. You may call those „professional“ too, but the term takes on a different meaning.
And in forae like this I see plenty of people that partake in the PCB war. The designs look flashy, but they only flatter those mentioned before.
For enclosures, I invariably have partaken in the war too for a while, but I have found that in the evening what counts for an enclosure is contrast. I have made endless colorful stomp-boxes that look beautiful, but unfortunately you cannot read neither the knob positions nor the writings under them in a dimly lit environment. Or the paint goes off if you look at them the wrong way.
So I have finally reverted to simple black and white with little embellishments where it does not hurt.
I take pride in being an amateur. In being somebody, who can afford to do the things with love and care, and who is not forced to churn out hundreds of units in order to earn a living. I take pride in producing something, that is technically as good as it can be. That has longevity, service-ability, tinker-ability and reliability. For the utmost benefit of the one who uses it – mostly me. And of course, I take pride to be somebody who does not need other’s applause.
Are you a proud amateur too?
This is most certainly the case for music-electronics forae like this, where there quite obviously a war rages over who makes the most appealing PCBs and who the flashiest case and how fast and how many. I assume it is a totally unconscious motivation that leads to such behavior.
Take HAM radio „amateurs“. They are far from this connotation of „amateur“. They are, on the contrary, very knowledgeable in their field and usually fueled by heart and soul. Sometimes not even for applause. Very many inventors belong to that kind and not so much the ones who have a degree in the matter.
„Amateur“ in its original sense means „somebody excels at a certain subject, whose primary motivation is the love for the subject rather than the necessity to earn an income“.
Because if you have to earn an income, you are forced to be effective and efficient. Let’s take the field of guitar effects unit. This is a huge industry branch, and industry primary goal is to make money again and again, and not to make a unit that is long lasting, economic on the long run, repairable and reliable. Their main goal is not to make the best product for the customer, but for their own interest. Things have to hold up only as long as warranty lasts. And of course, they have experts for that – professionals…
So for the badmouthing of amateurs (in the original sense), and the corrosion of the term, it is not far-fetched if one assumes intent. Please take a moment to let the implications of that on your motivations soak in somewhat.
I have been designing PCBs for my whole life, and I have been teaching PCB design for two decades now, but I have to admit to myself that I barely touched upon the surface of this art.
Circuits that process very large or very small signals, very high or low impedances, very high or low frequencies, need ultimate care as far as track layout and component placement goes.
My first and foremost design goals became reliability, low noise, repair-ability, modify-ability, reliability.
Although I like to apply a certain aesthetic touch to my designs, I do not let that interfere with the other goals, since I do not need to cater for volume production. To maintain those criteria, I use the following design approaches:
- I avoid SMD where possible. Harder to service, harder to solder, harder to see, nearly impossible for the tinkering stage.
- I avoid plated-through holes where possible. Components are nearly impossible to unsolder. Through hole designs and plated-through PCBs are good for production but bad for repair and tinkering.
- Avoid direct mounted peripherals like jacks, switches and pots.
#1 you are designing for an exact footprint. If you cannot get a pot, jack, switch etc. with certain mechanical properties after a while, you are stuck.
#2 you have to unscrew all pots and jacks and switches to change one single component and them fumble them back in again. If this increases reliability, I don´t know. This is only of interest for mass production. - Maintain service-ability. This conflicts with high package density and direct mounting.
- Layout tracks and components according to engineering considerations, not optics. Sometimes this asks for a bigger case.
- Leave space for shielding planes to avoid coupling. This can be done on a crowded PCB, but requires ultimate care and knowledge. Splash ground planes can make things far worse, but everybody seems to use them in abundance.
If you look at PCB designs say from Boss, those are genuinely thought about and evolved, although they clearly are not meant to live forever, else they would be out of job soon. Those are made to be „professional“.
However I see plenty of designs predominantly from those who churn out PCBs of clones of boutique units at a phenomenal rate, that are clearly compromised technically. Every Chinese PCB making company makes flashy looking PCBs according to your specs cheaply, so this is not a criterion for a good PCB. Just good looking. Try to unsolder anything on those and you know what i mean. Although those companies are making those boards for a living, I see many boards that seem to be driven by space and good visual appeal. Sometimes I wonder if they just get away with murder with those designs and I wonder how good they are as engineers. You may call those „professional“ too, but the term takes on a different meaning.
And in forae like this I see plenty of people that partake in the PCB war. The designs look flashy, but they only flatter those mentioned before.
For enclosures, I invariably have partaken in the war too for a while, but I have found that in the evening what counts for an enclosure is contrast. I have made endless colorful stomp-boxes that look beautiful, but unfortunately you cannot read neither the knob positions nor the writings under them in a dimly lit environment. Or the paint goes off if you look at them the wrong way.
So I have finally reverted to simple black and white with little embellishments where it does not hurt.
I take pride in being an amateur. In being somebody, who can afford to do the things with love and care, and who is not forced to churn out hundreds of units in order to earn a living. I take pride in producing something, that is technically as good as it can be. That has longevity, service-ability, tinker-ability and reliability. For the utmost benefit of the one who uses it – mostly me. And of course, I take pride to be somebody who does not need other’s applause.
Are you a proud amateur too?
I don’t know.
Disagree on all counts. I do all of the above on a regular basis and actually prefer it to doing the same with through hole parts. YMMV.
For one-offs, sure. I disagree, though, if you're making stuff in any kind of quantity >2 or so. Offboard wiring gets really, really old and time-consuming when making multiple units (unless you like sweatshop-type work).
If a layout looks too deliberately pretty or with forced symmetry, I'm suspicious. Robert's are probably fine, though 
, but haste is a vice. I'll offer general advice here and there, but as much as I could rip individual designs in pieces, I don't want to do that, because I know what it's like being on the other end, and if you're not familiar, it's going to come off as a personal attack. And maybe you're not open to change anyway 
