I need some high quality Printed Circuit Boards Made (DYNACO ST-70)

Well I have had great success with the new Dynaco boards, I have been able to get them slightly modified to use for my amps, and the seller has been very nice to deal with...........I can only thank the people on this forum that spent a lot of time with some great ideas.......The Dynakitparts boards are a fine quality product and people will do fine to use them.............THANKS  

Really glad to hear that Will! Keep us posted.

Well forum people.....I have now purchased 4 Dynakitparts boards......I will have to make a few modifications and build them up and test them...........We will see how that plays out.........This will be the 4th set of boards I have built up and tested, some very poor, some better..........Hopefully this is the ticket............Will

Roxy:   Thanks for  your encouragement, It is a great motivater , but time is the enemy, and I don't seem to have the time to fix it anymore..............The people on Audiogon Forum have sent so many solutions, but I started too late to give myself enough time...........One is only given a certain amount of time in life, sometimes we use it well, sometimes we waste it .  Now I have to "Pay Up" for the time I have wasted........I will put a little more time in it and maybe I will get a pay-back and some more time........I love building my amps , so that's not the problem .........If I had a Gerber File I could get boards from China in two - four days.......I don't know if I could even use a Chinese part ????   But I don't have a Gerber file anyway...............We will just have to see...........Will

Will,

Isn't it worth seeing what dogearedaudio's friend might be able to do for you before you throw in the towel? You're a valued member of the audio community, and I think that there a lot of others out there like myself who would feel bad if you left prematurely.

Well to the many people who brought forward great idea's, I can't thank you enough......The problems that I have really can't be fixed, most are my problems with the modern day of doing things .........People don't look at challenges as anything but casual occurrences and no real importance........I came up in a different time, where if you didn't "push" you got nowhere........I'm out of "push" and out of energy........Thanks for your help and energy, someone else will have to run with it         Will  

Thanks, moonwatcher.  I had a nice chat with Will and he sent me pix of his old board, which is very clearly labelled.  It's pretty much a duplicate of the original board with some spacing changes for the components he uses.  I'm going to send everything to this fellow in the Netherlands and see if he can create a board with an identical layout.  He's posted a bunch of free PCBs for various tube projects over at Diyaudio.  He goes by "v4lve lover" and he has some great stuff there for DIYers.  He made an excellent custom board for me, and I also use two of his other designs for various power supply elements, etc.  We'll see what he can do!

I work for a company that produces cellular antennas for companies like Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, etc. We us a PCB manufacturer called ACI for quality PCBs. Our RF engineers use programs like HFSS to create them, however, while we can produce Gerber files, we generally send ACI DXF files with "layers" specified on them.

Now, we use copper traces, not silver, and I don’t know if ACI - or another PCB manufacturer provides silver traces - maybe. You’d have to ask. But we use the DXFs to create 3D models in Solidworks. And ACI is happy to use these DXFs as well.

Maybe you could get a low cost DXF CAD program and create your own files that can be used. Of course you’d need to know PCB material thickness, the hole diameters, and the thickness and widths of the traces, which you could carefully measure with digital calipers. And know which holes (if any) are plated through holes. I assume this material is good old FR4 most likely, probably 60mil thick.

Good luck. But yes, $2000 seems excessive, then again, for a "one off" I guess that is the going rate.

Dogearedaudio:    I seems that Audiogon blocked about everything you sent.....Audiogon wants to stick there nose in everything.......Its like we are going take something worth 5 cents....................Will

Well, I believe he's in the Netherlands, so sending the board would be a bit of a pain.  And I'm not sure he could do an exact replica.  But I think if you sent him pictures of the current board so he can see the layout and maybe even the traces, he could do his best to duplicate it.  I will send you a private message with his email.  

Sir:    Do you know of anyway or if its possible to copy another "New" board....If you can find out I would send him the only board I have to copy.....I know thats not the way it normally works but its a chance...........If I can just send him the board I have........Will

I can see your dilemma.  Let me know if I can be of assistance, even just to put you in touch with this fellow.  He works pretty fast and it would cost a fraction of what you cited above, and far less than buying boards from these other sources in the long run.  At any rate, keep us posted.  A lot of us admire the great work you've over the years to keep the tube culture alive and thriving.

The biggest trouble i'm in at the moment is I'm two months behind, and am quickly losing my enthusiasm for this project, all over a 10.00 PCB.......I'm not sure its worth it anymore........I just got 10 boards from Serbia, and they are not usable, very poor quality..........I'm going think about for the week end and make so real choices.........Will  

I’d be more than happy to help, Will. If it’s the original Dynaco circuit, with the original eyelet inputs, I can email him a Dynaco manual and a picture of the original board layout and he can pretty much take it from there. The only data I’d need from you is is what tube you use in place of the 7199 and any changes you might have made. I’d also need the outer measurements of the board and the spacing of the mounting holes, but I can get those from any ST-70 replacement board. Florick is very experienced with tube circuits and will know what to do to make a nice, sturdy board. You can approve the design and I can order the boards from China for you. They cost, like $3 each. I could order a few and you can try them out. I’m right next door in Southern Oregon. No need to raise your blood pressure! ;-) If they don’t work out no harm done.

Believe me, the Williamson boards he designed for me are wonderful. They measure beautifully and are dead quiet, no ground loops, no issues at all. I love them. I was in the same spot as you, thinking how in the world could I get this accomplished, and in fact it was incredibly easy.

I’m semi-retired myself but my wife still works full-time and this sort of thing keeps me out of her hair.

Tubes4hifi is not a dynaco circuit, so It wouldn't work for me , but I do appreciate all the help.....I don't really want to give it up, but I need to also be realistic in what I'm capable of doing, at the moment I am suffering from "High Blood Pressure"  which these kind of things don't help.........At one time I could just build and design amplifiers and not have to deal with these types of problems, but I have changed and times have changed, so I need to look at the whole picture and deside if I want to deal with it anymore, but for the moment I'll pursue it...............Will

He says above that he tried theirs and didn't like it.

Vacuum Tube Audio ST70 parts (tubes4hifi.com)

No problem.  I reached out to the guy, and he'd be happy to help.  It's just a side thing for him, I don't know what he does for a living. ;-)  He put an entire Williamson circuit on a heavy-duty PCB for me, they're terrific boards, better than I had hoped for.  I'm in agreement with Will about the advantages of a good circuit board.

@dogearedaudio,

that sounds really good, since Will had mentioned $2,000. Hopefully he'll contact you and you can help. Thanks for your kind offer.

"How much does it cost to have a Gerber File made?"

It can cost a lot if you go to a professional firm. Plus non-audio people don’t always understand what you need.  Little things like how big the filament eyelets need to be. stuff like that.  And you need to send them technical drawings, etc.

Come to think of it, I know a couple of other fellows, veteran DIYers, who I'm sure are quite aware of your work, who also might be willing to help out.  Feel free to send me a PM.

Will, there's a fellow on another audio forum who designed a PCB for me from a schematic.  He does it for fun and a little bit of money.  It was not expensive, he sent me the Gerbers and I now order the boards from China and they arrive in about a week.  Would you like me to reach out to him and see if he'll do something for you?

How much does it cost to have a Gerber File made?

Well I flunked out again, if you can't product a "Gerber File" you will never be able to get a PCB, I don't care who you are.......No file, no board, not even the Chinese can do it..............Will

My biggest enemy is my inability to navigate the internet.......Most of the reasons I can't connect with some of my suppliers is the internet  and me...........Time has passed me by, and I'm not sure I can ever catch up.......I will simply have to pass my battalion on to younger smarter people than me..........I spent some time this morning trying to talk with Nelson Pass but I didn't do so good, and I have been working on this for over a month, and it appears that one supplier will probably end my long career of amplifier building forever because I can't get a 10.00 PCB..............Its the American way........Will 

Another place is; Tubes For Hi-Fi. 

Thanks Will.

Roxy:  I'm working on it and will let you know how it goes.........Will

Let us know how it goes. Nelson is very friendly.

Roxy;   That's a fair idea, I know Mike Sanders (Quicksilver) and I always wanted to talk to Nelson Pass.......Actually Dick Olsher is a person that could maybe help me out and he has one of my amps........That is a great idea.......I'm on it tomorrow........Will

Will,

I'm completely out of my element here, but you are sort of well-known at least by name in the industry, so what if you called some of the boutique manufacturers and enlisted their help and advice in finding a solution? I'm thinking of Nelson Pass, because he's very friendly or maybe the guys at Coda.

There are probably many others that have ideas about a supplier who could make these to your spec. because they've had to shop for the same thing at some point.

Roxy: I won't build a inferior amp, I'll quit first and all my great customers will suffer because they can't buy that amp they see on the internet that's all hand built a perfect working amp and it's something for there system that's good and proper......My customers are just regular people and that's who the amps are for.........I am so surprised that this board deal has turned into what it has, my supplier for 30 years has tried to buy a cheaper board, save money and pass it off to me and then give me something that is supposed to be better that is poorly made, ground loop problems, bad traces and expects me not to notice it's junk.....I built up 5 of these boards, they are no good and I won't use them......So that's the problem in short......I can't find anyone to make or sell a proper board.....I  would buy the Dynaparts board but I can't get the supply and he wants 3 1/2 times the price as I have been paying......THANKS   W

@autospec

I guess you meant COVID, anyway, I hope that you find a good reliable supplier soon. You make a wonderful product for a very reasonable price. I've always wanted one. 

Well I'm still working on it, but American manufacturers want 2000.00 to do the drawing to make them, they can't copy my board......I bought 20 from Serbia and it will take over a month to get them, I do hope they come at some point........Its crazy that I can't find anyone who can make them without the special drawing.......We built a B-17 in about 3 hours and I can't get a printed circuit board to build my amps...........My supplier in MA. let me down and keeps telling me he's going to get them but they never show up, and I been buying from him for 30 years, he's getting like me TIRED.............It would be really nice if America would get back in the game, but I won't see that in my life.........Its the Covic generation   (spelling ???)

Here us a vendor with 2 different blank boards...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ssn=www-tubes.rs&store_name=tubesrstubeamplifiersnostubes&_oac=1&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

DeKay

Dekay:  I have tried that board, has too many ground loops , very poor design .....In fact I bought 5 of them to try.........Will

tubes4hifi has various versions and here's a link to older production boards...

DeKay

I'm still on it but Dynakitparts can't provide me with over 10 of these so I can't go there.....I can't afford to get in this possession again without parts so I'm going to work on having them made but that's very expensive...........They want 2000.00 to do the drawings .......I should retire and call it good, but I love building amps for people.......I'm going to contact some of the manufacturers that the forum people named and see what they say...........The other problem is 100 items is a small order , so they are not very interested......Everybody is about big money, so little guys have it hard sometimes.........W  

Here's a link NR's pic/source (they can be ordered without parts).

DeKay

Noromance:   That board would work, who sells those ???  Maybe I can buy 40 - 50 of them.......I would really like to buy them without parts or at least not all the parts...........I always use 1 watt resistors and Mundorf Caps, but otherwise that board looks good............Will

I Googled "custom circuit boards silver".

https://www.thomasnet.com/suppliers/usa/silver-through-hole-printed-circuit-boards-pcb-96079991

DeKay

Van Alstine used to make some. 
 

K&K Audio

Tubes 4 hifi

AkitikA

Boards for $35 at the link I supplied above.

I'd ask this over at DIYaudio

Carlsbad2:       Point to point is not the answer when you use silver trace boards , which is what I need......Boards are much more consistent in lead lengths and hum control..............But that's another subject..............W

@noromance 

Oh, that's funny! Thanks!

@autospec  What about Dynakits?

@roxy54  autospec is Mr. Vincent.

Have you tried asking Will Vincent?

go point to point if you are looking for quality.

Have you tried asking Will Vincent?