3 ms·
I love how the traces are smooth and rounded rather than square and thin like modern pcbs. They look like they were hand-drawn, and they probably were. Does a
by znpy 2y ago
I love how the traces are smooth and rounded rather than square and thin like modern pcbs.
They look like they were hand-drawn, and they probably were.
Does anybody knows if modern pcb cad software can do that? Like, KiCAD or others ?
- MathMonkeyMan 2y agoI don't know, but I remember reading that curved is better but harder to do in software (at least in the past). Reddit agrees: <https://old.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/iejapa/why_arent_pcb_traces_rounded/g2h12e0/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/iejapa/why_...>. I wonder if the machines used to print boards play a role, too.
- t-3 2y agoThere are several plugins for making curved traces in KiCAD.
- formerly_proven 2y agoThese boards were basically laid out using masking tape on transparencies. The rounding comes naturally from turning a corner with the narrow tape. The teardrops around pads and other more complex shapes (like footprints) came from pre-fabricated stickers. The layouts were produced in 4:1 or similar scale and were optically reduced during photolithography of the resist on the actual PCB (just like semiconductor masks). Way back then you also had some concerns about manufacturability because sharp corners tend to be undercut during etching when your process is poor. That's probably why they usually added little fillets to T and similar connections.
- kjs3 2y agoYup. On a smaller production scale, we did prototype PCBs with photoresist directly on copper clad boards.
- kjs3 2y agoThere's a not-OSS, not cheap autorouter called TopoR that will do this. There are plugins of varying quality for other tools. And you can usually do something manually if you have spare time.
- garaetjjte 2y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euJgtLcWWyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euJgtLcWWyo