Help/advice/guidance translating schematics onto a pcb

[Cqwet Dbdfte]

Hello again everyone!!

Been working on this almost constantly since my last reply! Here is my update and where the project stands at the moment!

Got the pcb's from JLC, VU from Aliexpress, and a blank L-bracket and faceplate from CAPI. Got everything installed and finally got brave enough to plug it in last night aaand it works!! Mostly! Input gain is good, pad is good. However, my polarity wasn't working nor was the low cut! Also my output attenuator is working but opposite than I intended?? Currently clockwise rotation attenuates which my brain absolutely hates but it's working so still a win!

It was so hard to wrap my head around how to layout and drill out the L bracket and faceplate! I didn't pay much attention to the physical laayout dimensions when designing the pcb so that took me a good few days. This iteration is mucked up but I saw it through for the practice. I have a new bracket and faceplate en route and thanks to my jeweler roommate i now have the tools to cut and polish up the holes real nice.

Sadly though, I think just one more PCB iteration is needed and that should do it. I'm going to scrap the Lowcut filter since it didn't work and the button is kind of taking up too much space. I think it'll be a bit better overall to scrap it and free up some more real estate. That'll also allow me to move the 2 remaining buttons down (they were rubbing against the input knob) and move the input down (It was too close to the VU meter). Also found that I need to space my resistors out a bit more for it to sit flush and look nice (the vishay resistors I used are thicker than most). Oh and I did some looking at other polarity schematics and I think I just had it wrong in this iteration so I need to fix that as well.

The VU also wasn't working. It was lighting up just fine but wasn't responding to signal at all. Did some fiddling and the TL072 IC started to smoke lmao so that'll be a little something to figure out!

Overall though, I'm super excited. The fact that it passed signal was so gratifying and seeing it physically come together felt like I had won a boss fight in a video game! I just need to iron out some wrinkles and it'll be ready for a life in the studio. Huge thanks to everyone here for helping me through this!! Hope y'all get some joy out of seeing it come together because I'm ecstatic!!

Also for anyone that's curious about the cost, this comes together for right around $200 top to bottom! Not bad considering the current API iteration is around $800 new.

You can also order aluminum PCBs from JLC, for your front panel.
Use the "copper" side with black solder mask, and you can use silkscreen for text, or use Stop layer, to reveal the goldplated metal or HASL, which is very nice looking. Holes will be cut with very high precision.
If 1.6 mm is not thick enough, double stack them. Holes can be sized for selftapping screws.