Description
Been building Eurorack modules from PCB layouts found online, but was never happy with the spaghetti wiring and panel mounting difficulties. Not to mention the problem of troubleshooting when all the pots, jacks, toggles, and switches are flopping about willy nilly.
The boards are mounted to the front panel with the pots, so the more pots the stronger the mount. The boards are slightly thicker than normal (1.6mm) for added strength while keeping some room to align components with short leads and short bodies to components with longer bodies (ie: making Kobiconn sockets and subminiature switches fit on both the PCB and front panel). Component pin holes and pads were enlarged so the pin is surrounded by solder on both sides of the board. Even with 9mm pots the strength is quite strong. Worse-case scenario is that pot leads get snapped off and the pot needs to be replaced.
Three separate boards:
- PCB mounting board holds pots and distributes Eurorack power.
- Holds up to 5 16mm or 9mm pots. Can still fit other components if all pots not needed.
- 3 3mm holes on 1.5 inch spacing. Center removable.
- Multiple holes on pot pins 1 and 3 to wire together grounds or power.
- 10-Component Board
- Fits 10 Kobiconn-style sockets, 10 subminiature switches or buttons.
- Snap-off in pairs.
- Breakouts for all leads, including switch on 3.5mm socket.
- 5-Component Board
- Fits 5 Kobiconn-style sockets, 5 subminiature switches or buttons.
- Aligns components with pots on 19.05mm / 3/4 inch centers.
PCB’s are 1.6mm thick and holes are drilled a tad wider to suck more solder through to the other side (no top-soldering!) for greater mechanical strength.
Wiring to breakouts silkscreened for easier assembly and troubleshooting.
Note how the larger holes help the solder wick through to the other side without having to top-solder.
Common sockets, switches, and buttons fit the same holes in each board. Button pin lugs and the Kobiconn socket ground lug need small leads attached to fit the holes (not shown).
PCBs are attached vertically to the front panel with M3 (or imperial equivalent) bolts. Holes will need to be drilled into the PCB either 1.5 inches or 3 inches apart.
Here I’m finishing a Yusynth Steiner VCF board. Ahhhh. Much better than the nightmare I was dealing with before.
Dry fitting of parts. It’s better to mount your parts in the panel before soldering. I didn’t do this but everything still fit. I had the panel laser cut specifically to fit these PCBs, but still…
Two sets of boards per PCB.
