I've never really done board layout, so am practicing.
- Any suggestions for what to read for tips and rules?
- What do you think of this?
Thanks!
Link isn't working.
If you click on "additional options" on the post editor, you can attach an image.
retry, thanks
You know you can do this in just one layer, don't you?
I would also add/modify a few labels/names/values to better describe IC1, IC2, S1 etc.
I would also rotate IC2 90 degrees to the left.
What circuit is this anyway?
I don't really know what width traces should be. I made .010 as min for board house ease.
90 deg on ic2 looks smart.
It's just a test circuit for layout experimenting before I do a real board.
Thanks
Ive updated image with your suggestions - ready for more! 
What about giving us the schematic as well? I'd like to understand what the circuit is actually doing.
You should consider adding a polygon on at least the bottom side and NAMEing it GND. That way you can get a nice ground plane going (assuming you are going for a 2 sided board.)
What does C2 do?, it has a polarized symbol and I see no discharge path on the part.... Not an Electrolytic I hope. What is that circuit? It looks like a mis wired 555 multivibrator... a 555 would have reset (4) connected to Vcc and the control pin (5) to ground through a 10nF capacitor.
It doesn't look right somehow. The board is an excellent first board but you might look at a board and wonder why each trace goes where it goes from the schematic or netlist then ask if it might be better if 1. it is laid out differently and whether things like power and ground could be better served by putting it on one side and it is usually a good idea to use as big a trace as will route properly, There is no need for 10 mil traces. 20 - 30 mils would have worked very well for a low complexity thru hole board like yours. You used good sized power and ground but you are lacking a bypass cap on the regulator input [edit] "and the output of the regulator as well unfortunately". The missing part will make the regulator unstable if used on batteries as a batteries internal resistance increases as it becomes discharged 'and' at some point the regulator can't be compensated internally so it oscillates and draws a great deal of current... do the same thing with wires longer that about a foot... By the Manual. But still a good first try. IMO
Doc
Decoupling capacitors next to every chip, add a ground plane.
Thanks for all the comments so far!
I guess I should clarify that this isn't 100% a well designed circuit as much as a test to learn to do layouts. I should add a few .01 and .1s here and there to bypass.
I made the traces .05 now, which looks nice to me, but routing does seem to get awkward.
I'm not clear on how to do a ground plane yet, so have not added that. Important? My breadboards never have ground planes, so why would I want to add?
Here's the latest:
Still very open to suggestions...
I'm not clear on how to do a ground plane yet, so have not added that.
Draw a POLYGON around the perimeter of the board. Use the NAME command and click on part of the new POLYGON. Name it GND. (Run RATSNEST to see it filled in.)
Suggest one on the top and bottom layers.
db2db:
Important?
Yes. They help with signal integrity and they make board fab easier. There is less copper to etch/mill away.
db2db:
My breadboards never have ground planes, so why would I want to add?
Breadboards are inherently capacitive because of their construction. You are benefiting from ground plane coupling you don't realize is there.
Three things...
- your board looks ok, C1 needs to be rotated 90 deg CCW
- post a complete schematic... still looks like some kind of 555 board.
- a ground plane is an inexpensive method of providing a very low impedance
power supply not quite important on your small board but Very, as you get more than 1 IC
and it is one less trace or wire you have to worry about and it makes bypassing noisy
circuitry much easier and in my opinion it makes the board look better. Was that Eagle
you used? it reminds me a great deal of Altium's output style is the reason I asked
most artwork I see anymore is Eagle, I've tried to use it and I will stay with Altuiim, I used it for many years.
A ground plane is also called a "Copper Pour" and it can be connected to any net you have
Sometimes you can arrange your parts such that you can group the Vcc in the center of the
board or you can have one side Vcc and one side ground every one is different. Good work so far
Doc
Thanks.
Why rotate C1? Just your personal taste?
As I mentioned, it's not a full designed device. It's for practice before I do my much larger project.
It is Eagle. I used Altium before this, which I thought was better, but Eagle has a nicer community.
If you rotate the cap the trace you bent around the pad will be a straight shot to pins 2 and 6 of the IC...
Doc
(1) trace run closer to pads than they should, or actually short. Be sure to run the "DRC" (Design Rule Check) from the menu and at least understand most of what it tells you.
(2) sharp interior angles are frowned upon. Supposedly they are "etchant traps" and can lead to failures to create good PCBs reliably. I'm not sure to what extent this applies when your traces are thick and you're using a modern PCB house, but it still looks a bit funny.
(3) I don't think the jack pins are set up the way you think they are. Normally you'd have one connection to TIP and one to SLEEVE, maybe using the internal switch and maybe not. Since you said that this is a practice board, and since it looks like the actual connections are wires to an offboard connector anyway, this is probably irrelevant. But it's always a good idea to make sure that the library parts you are using match up with the real parts!
I didn't catch that on the DC input!
How about:
Or are those C1 angles trouble now?