laying out a turret board

there is much information about designing layouts to realize your circuit, but i'll let the other sites cover that topic for now.
this page will focus on how to transfer an existing layout onto your own turret board.

supplies needed

circuit board material, turrets or eyelets, staking tool, drill, hammer (or drill press )
pencil, marker, architects triangular scale, saw and miter box (if board is not to proper length)
graphics program (optional)

steps:

1. count the number of turrets needed to complete your circuit board. make sure you have enough on hand

2. decide how much spacing you want between the top and bottom rows of turrets. often this is determined by the size of your components. some resistors will not span a 3" board, so choose a general spacing that will accommodate your parts. you can always increase of decrease this spacing for individual components, if necessary.

3. draw top and bottom guidelines across the length of your board for the top, bottom and center rows of turrets with a pencil. this will be easier by using your triangular scale. mark the center line first, then using the 1/2 scale ruler measure and mark your vertical turret spacing. do this for the top and bottom rows and draw your guidelines along the board for the top and bottom rows.

4. now choose a horizontal spacing for the turrets. this is usually 3/8" - in this case you will use the 3/8 scale ruler. place the zero mark at the left edge of the board and make tick marks with a pencil at each "inch." no math needed! just count across the amount of turrets needed for the top row on the ruler marking a few extra
just in case you miscounted the first time.

4b. (optional) if you have a diagram or picture of a layout available for your circuit, import it into a graphics program on your computer. flip the image vertically and then print it out. you will use this modified version of the circuit in the next step. the benefit of doing this is that you will be marking your layout on the back of the turret board! this will leave all your messy guidelines and mistakes were no one will notice them!

5. carefully transfer the layout to the turret board using the guidelines and tick marks. using your marker, place a dot over the tick mark where a turret will be placed, place an dash over the tick mark where there is a space in the layout and place an x over the tick mark where mounting holes will be drilled. carefully marking each tick mark will help eliminate errors. include all mounting holes!

6. double check, even triple check the layout on your turret board with your layout template. you'll want to correct any errors before you start drilling!

6b. mark the right edge of the board, then place it in the miter box and cut to length with saw (if needed )

7. now that your layout is verified it's time to start drilling! using the the correct size drill bit for your turrets, drill out all of the dotted marks on your turret board.

8. using the correct size drill bit for you mounting hardware, drill out all of the x marks on your turret board.

8b. some like to drill holes to feed wires through the turret board. if your layout did not accomodate this, mark the places you will need to bring wires through the board with X's and then drill them out using the proper drill size for your wire.

9. if you skipped step 4b, clean the board up using a large eraser, get rid of all of those pencil marks! if you completed step 4b, simply flip the board over!

10. mount turrets using staking tool and hammer (or drill press )- looks good doesn't it?