One weekend, one PCB layout
I can think of plenty of more fun ways to spend my weekend than working through food poisoning and laying out a PCB. Both are more or less done. I have a PCB layout that both looks like it'll work and is nice and small. I printed it out actual size and was somewhat stunned at the size of the components that I'd chosen. 4x4mm sounds all well and good in words, but you need to see it to really believe it. It's the sort of part you'd put on your fingernail and take a photo of for the press. As a result, the PCB has some very narrow features, and I'm not confident that I'll be able to toner-transfer it. I'll give it a shot anyway; it's not so tight that I can't draw the tracks in by hand if the laser toner doesn't stick.
The passive parts should arrive today; I'm expecting the control chip any day now (assuming they send it at all; it's coming as a free sample). I found a place in Sydney that appears to buy unused stock from places and then resell it through their website. They claim to have the control chip, so I've asked for a quote. The website was a bit sketchy on package types and lead-free status, and I'm not convinced that they have it at all given that I haven't found an online reseller that even lists it yet.
I still need to pick up some better paper to practice toner-transferring with, but apart from that I'm more or less ready to start building the prototypes.
And just now, I'm looking at the printed board layout on paper and I spot a problem which will cause reduced performance at best and smoke at worst. I can see why people spend so much money on tools to lay out PCBs automatically.