PCB tracks

The last week has seen rather little activity on the development front because I've been away at Bletchley Park, getting some flying in and working at the airport to pay for same. The PCB layout work has more or less been completed however, so it's time for an update.

This is the component layout drawing. The rotary encoders and push button switches are mounted on the front of the board (the side facing the panel). The encoders help to mount the board to the panel but in addition there are mounting points shown by + signs to stop the board flexing too much.

This is the track layout on the front of the board - the side nearest to the panel. This side will also have silk screened legends.

Finally, the track layout on the rear, facing away from the front panel. This side of the board also holds the various headers for connection to the processor, etc and the two switch multiplexer boards.

We decided that the LCD display should be mounted onto the PCB rather than being separately mounted on the front panel. This reduces the number of mounting holes but also means that the complete ensemble can be constructed and tested away from the chassis and cabinet.

I'm hoping that we can get this into the PCB fabrication shop early next week. There is a two week lead time for production and in the meantime we should be able to get the front panel milled. A lot of things will start coming together in a couple of weeks time!