Thinking about designing my rackmount SID again...

[m00dawg]

I found my old Eagle layouts for my rackmount SID I was wanting to make. I've been using the sammichSID quite a bit lately to the point I'm wanting a bigger control surface (never had a whole lot of luck with CTRLR) and just to cross this off my list :P Hadn't touched this since 2011 heh. Anyways this is where I left it:

http://wiki.midibox.org/doku.php?id=mb-sidr8tr:start#led_matrix

The question I had was, is FrontPanel Express and Eagle still the way to go? Been trying KiCAD since it could allow me to have a single board control surface (without getting nailed by licensing limits Eagle has) but the downside is that's a lot of cost to sink into it if I mess it up. So I think going with my separate board solution probably makes sense. I noticed OSHPark now does laser cutting of metal which made me wonder about using that over FPE (though FPE has always produced stunning panels).

For those wondering why not just build an MB-6582 - I like Rackmount and the cables connecting the lower and upper boards have been my undoing. That plus a rackmount gives me tons of space to add, say, filters, a nice PSU, a fan for the SIDs, etc. The baseboard will still be using the MB-6582.

[Phatline]

i also like rackmount more...

you can port eagle to kicad ... search for the script "Eagle2Kicad-master"

from the readme:

Quote

# Eagle2KiCAD EDA Converter
----------------------------

This project aims to provide a simple way to convert an Eagle CAD project into a KiCad Project.

All scripts are written in the python 3.2 grammar, and have been released under the MIT Licence.

Please report any issues to the issue tracker

If you would like to contribute, please fork this repository, make your changes, and then send me a pull request.

Features so far:
----------------
- Convert Boards
    - Rectangle Graphics are not converted
- Convert Libraries
     - Schematic Symbol Conversions  (.lib)
     - Board Footprint Conversion (.mod)

GUI:
----
      
To Convert a file run Start.py located in the root of the download zip file

1. A gui will pop up asking what to do.
2. Choose an option
3. Select the file to convert.
4. Select the Output file(s)
5. A message will appear stating whether or not the conversion was sucessful
6. Check the log.txt and Console to see if there were any issues

CMD Line:
----------

Alternatively you may use the command line options.

    usage: Eagle2KiCad [-h] [-l inFile symFile modFile] [-b inFile brdFile]
                       [-s inFile schFile] [-v {0,1}]

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
      -l inFile symFile modFile, -L inFile symFile modFile, --Library inFile symFile modFile
                            Convert an Eagle Library
      -b inFile brdFile, -B inFile brdFile, --Board inFile brdFile
                            Convert an Eagle Board
      -s inFile schFile, -S inFile schFile, --Schematic inFile schFile
                            Convert an Eagle Schematic
      -v {0,1}, --verbosity {0,1}
                            Verbosity Level

>**Note:**
>
>- Tags may be repeated multiple times. This feature can be used to do batch conversions
>- Tags may be mixed together.  You are not limited to converting only boards or only libraries
 
Contributors:
-------------
- Trump211
- Magtux
- Myval
- yoneken
- If I have forgotten someone please send me an email and I'll add to this list
    
# <font color="red">!!!NOTICE:!!!</font>
----------
All boards converted using this script should be checked over to make sure everything looks good.
Take care to notice pad sizes, via sizes, via layers, etc.  Make sure to run a DRC.    

i have sucessfully made pcb, sent the gerbers to china, and got them without failures... kicad is cool

Edited April 20, 2020 by Phatline

[m00dawg]

Ooooh nice! Well that's helpful! That's a definitive possibility then. I worked on the LED Matrix yesterday. My previous iteration used SMDs, which definitely save space, but since I use a second board for the ICs, I had enough room to try thru-hole components since they're easier to work with. I wanna say it's about $75 for both the boards from OskPark. PCBWay and, erhm, the other one, are less expensive of course.

The front panel is still about $275 from FPE. It's always been about the same price. I think I am going to convert the screw holes to blind threaded holes though.

I'm actually between jobs due to Mr. Virus so for now I'm just trying to plan and gauge how much work is left and work on how best to approach the DIN/DOUT stuff Last time I landed on using 2x5 headers (just like CORE's J8/J9) but I really only need 6 pins (+5V, GND, Clock, Latch, DIN, DOUT).