@Vernon Barry posted:Again, sorry for the blasting tone. I said what I said because of this: "I shrunk the board down and got rid of the giant cap" doesn't address other major shortcomings from a design perspective.
Again, sorry, we all start somewhere, mistakes are made. Easy enough letting a board patterning software make decisions for you. That said, between just ridiculously over sized components (TO-3P, massive 5.08mm screw terminals, massive SMD resistors) and then the smallest possible traces connecting them, this is near textbook how not to make a PCB and definitely not one to sell.
By all means post a preview of your new design that is smaller, but what I trying to advise you of is this board- to anyone who knows anything about electronics casts doubts on your skills for designing a product worth selling. Understanding component design, sizing, thermal calculations are all part of designing a proper board. Understanding thermal stress just from soldering, good through hole pad guidelines, trace width and size, these are required to making something that can stand up in the field.
Again, I'm sorry, I know you mean well and it's fun to make something and when it works you are very happy. There is plenty of room in this hobby for folks to create electronic boards that perform model railroading functions. I wish you best of luck and again, suggest you post some layout designs of your new board so others can help guide you on a much more robust PCB design that is much more viable for a product.
Hi Vernon,
First off I want to say: I am not planning on selling these whatsoever. As you pointed out about some aspects about the board layout: this board simply put, is a far way from sale material. I have just been using them for my personal train layout for the past year or so and it seems like that is where they will live! Never say never, but I doubt I will ever be selling any boards. There's a number of reasons for this, I think the biggest is that I am not too happy with the trade-offs of this circuit design in general, even before getting down to the board level. I have been re-thinking ways to produce the waveforms necessary for this with the correct input requirements and I have a few new circuits that can do it. Also, I won't have the bandwidth to do much customer service which I believe is necessary to sell a product like this. No need to be sorry either, in fact I did say "judge away" when it came to this design, because it was my first time ever laying out a board like this.
I have no issues with your response at all! It's passion. I appreciate the constructive criticism and I would really appreciate some help and guidance if you would be willing to provide some more detailed advice! I can provide all the design files you need. I do have some more detailed and direct questions about some of the things you mentioned. Based on your response, it sounds like you have professional electrical engineering experience with products shipped under your belt, so it will be nice to talk some shop 
I think it may be best to take it to another venue though, as Mike mentioned this isn't the typical spot for this type of thing. Let me know if this is something you are interested in. I would appreciate the guidance.
