BC184L transistor component

Hi Andy,

The Cadsoft Guest (I can't see the username) means well, basically he's strongly pushing you to create your own parts, for three main reasons:

(1). You can then guarantee (to yourself) they are correct, since you will have created them. There can be mistakes/room to improve with other people's libraries, because they don't necessarily test them, or take as much care as you will for your own project(s).

(2). You will learn in the process, and that is super-important because in electronics it is impossible for CAD libraries to contain every component you may wish to use, and it is therefore inevitable that you at some stage (usually sooner rather than later) will need to create your own anyway

(3). It might seem surprising, but in EAGLE it actually is quicker to create from scratch than to copy and edit. Less risk of error too. This is because EAGLE is designed for fast creation of components, for reason (2) i.e. that it is inevitable that users need to create their own components, so this part of the workflow needs to be speedy

I've just been working on a circuit and every active component (ICs and transistors and diode) were custom parts. Only the R's and C's were standard (and even a couple of those were custom parts). By creating the part, you get to know the functions of each pin, and the physical details in immense detail, and that helps you when you start routing the signals onto the PCB layout, to know what kind of traces to use, where to locate components, etc.

If you want, I'd be happy to send you an EAGLE recording which contains some detail of parts creation (it isn't intended to replace the EAGLE manual, rather it is just some tips/guidelines that work for me. It is on a server and the presentation was not originally created for a wide audience i.e. isn't for sharing, but you're welcome to view it. If you want to view it, let me know and I'll send access details (i.e. to do so you'll have to approve my 'follow' request to you which I've just sent, and then you'll have to click on 'follow' on my username to allow me to approve, we both need to simultaneously 'follow' each other to be able to send messages).

Hi Andy,

The Cadsoft Guest (I can't see the username) means well, basically he's strongly pushing you to create your own parts, for three main reasons:

(1). You can then guarantee (to yourself) they are correct, since you will have created them. There can be mistakes/room to improve with other people's libraries, because they don't necessarily test them, or take as much care as you will for your own project(s).

(2). You will learn in the process, and that is super-important because in electronics it is impossible for CAD libraries to contain every component you may wish to use, and it is therefore inevitable that you at some stage (usually sooner rather than later) will need to create your own anyway

(3). It might seem surprising, but in EAGLE it actually is quicker to create from scratch than to copy and edit. Less risk of error too. This is because EAGLE is designed for fast creation of components, for reason (2) i.e. that it is inevitable that users need to create their own components, so this part of the workflow needs to be speedy

I've just been working on a circuit and every active component (ICs and transistors and diode) were custom parts. Only the R's and C's were standard (and even a couple of those were custom parts). By creating the part, you get to know the functions of each pin, and the physical details in immense detail, and that helps you when you start routing the signals onto the PCB layout, to know what kind of traces to use, where to locate components, etc.

If you want, I'd be happy to send you an EAGLE recording which contains some detail of parts creation (it isn't intended to replace the EAGLE manual, rather it is just some tips/guidelines that work for me. It is on a server and the presentation was not originally created for a wide audience i.e. isn't for sharing, but you're welcome to view it. If you want to view it, let me know and I'll send access details (i.e. to do so you'll have to approve my 'follow' request to you which I've just sent, and then you'll have to click on 'follow' on my username to allow me to approve, we both need to simultaneously 'follow' each other to be able to send messages).

Thanks for your help guys... This is new territory to me, and don't want to spend too much time designing parts in Eagle, although I suspect that isn't going to happen. I'm currently copying and tweaking existing devices, and doing that is helping me learn how they're created. As I said before I don't find Eagle very intuitive but I'll persevere :-)

Jon Clift: You've been very helpful, thank you. The pots I'll be using are volume reverse log @ 10k, and the bass and treble will both be linear @ 100k. I'm using reverse log on the volume as historically it's said to give a better sweep... I'll try it, and if it isn't good I'll change it out. The current power boost reissues are all reverse log on the volume. Yeah, I'm aware of the stripe colour codes on the tropical fish caps.... I have a chart with the codes on. Pretty simple really. All my electrolytics are 50v or there abouts... The power boost works at 18v so there's plenty of head room voltage wise. regarding the 220pf ceramic, I've just ordered some multilayer Kemet caps... I think 10 for £2 (about $1.6)

Shabaz: Thanks for the offer.... And I'd like to take you up on the offer :-)

Cadsoft guest: Thanks for your words of wisdom..... I'll take it all on board ;-)

Hi Andy,

I'm not sure what I did, but I seem to have accidentally 'dismissed' rather than 'accept' the invite.

Anyway, I just realized your e-mail is part of the username, so I've directly e-mailed you with the info. I hope it helps.