is there guide to read the vero board layouts

[lucas abela]

again newbie here

i see a layout guide but no guide on how to read the various vero layouts

most of it is obvious but some things are bugging me as i make my parts list

lets use the Casper-Electronics-Echobender as an example

there are 3 types of capacitors

red coloured one
yellow ones
and white and grey ones

i can work out that the white and grey are polarised but besides that i have no idea what the convention is

maybe a page on this could help, i'm also sure publishing a parts list with all posts would make everyones life alot easier rather than every single person who decides to build one have to systematically go through the board and hope they don't miss anything

[IvIark]

There's a component guide in the top menu of the blog which contains a lot of info regarding the types represented, but as a rule of thumb both myself, Miro and most of the other guys on here tend to show symbolically the cap that they would themselves use in a build.

 ■ So for my layouts, the yellow caps represent ceramic caps which I will often use for picofarad values

 ■ The red caps represent Panasonic polyesters which I tend to use for values from 1nF up to 1uF

 ■ As you have mentioned, the dark and light blue ones are electrolytic and I would probably use for values of 2.2uF and upwards.  You may prefer tantalum and I will also use those, but the main thing is that it's showing some sort of higher value polarised cap.

[motterpaul]

I have also suggested parts lists for each project, mostly so the search engine could find pedals that have certain parts.  Right now all the components are only contained within images which the search engine cannot search.

But for you - The best thing is to just get started and try some builds so you get used to the conventions.

I suggest getting an average capacitor assortment from 1pf to 100 uF. You will usually get the same convention that Mark just mentioned: for example small caps under 1nF will be yellow (to represent ceramic), the ones between 1nf and 1uf will be red for Panasonic polyester (those are generally the tightest fitting, although box style caps in this range are also nicely sized). Anything bigger than 1uF will almost always be electrolytic. (round with polarity)

There are exceptions, you will see Panasonic 1uF.

In general with caps the most important thing is that you get the right value - the "type" it is (ceramic, film, box, polyester, electrolytic) doesn't matter that much. If it has polarity, then the circuit will almost always show it (the only exception is once in awhile it will show a Panasonic 1uF, when all you have is an electrolytic, but if it is the right value and you get the polarity right the circuit works. You can ask someone how to place it, or sometimes it is obvious.

This http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/04/vero-build-guide.html helps you with the logistics of setting up a Vero once you have the right components.

I have to say this, though, depending on how much you know, chances are it is going to take a little while before everything makes sense, because there is a lot of general knowledge assumed here - the only goal here is to show layouts for certain pedal circuits, not to teach electronics or even pedal building from the ground up.

It is a good idea to also do a lot of outside research.

[motterpaul]

By the way - I looked up the specific pedal you are referring to - and the icons are a little mixed up - so just shoot for the values of caps you need.

There are some gold ones and some red ones, but some of the gold ones have values that indicate they should have been red (the ones to the right of IC1).

At the top, on each side of IC2 are two smaller caps that will be ceramic (5pF and 100pF) - those are correctly colored gold.

82nF is 82nF regardless of what color it is - I see 2 gold 82nF and 1 red one in that layout but they are all the same. It was done by a person other than Mark, so maybe he didn't realize what you were referring to.

The pF and the nF ones have no polarity (can be placed either way), the big round ones in the uF range do have polarity where the gray band represents the anode or " - " negative leg of the cap.

The IGO is the 7805 regulator.

Hope this helps