[drew.haynes]

http://tangentsoft.net/elec/tread/misc/sch-v1.1.pdf
 
In that schematic, most components... I'll say R5 for example... are connected on one lead to the main circuit, then the other lead just is an arrow. I've taken this to mean ground usually, correct? In a physical, putting a board together sense, what IS the ground? Do all those "arrows" just connect to a common point?
 
Sorry, I know this is a laughably stupid question to anyone who knows what they are doing. I just built my first CMOY and was looking at building a TREAD. The CMOY worked first try and exceeded my expectations.
 
 
Drew

 

[Avro_Arrow]

Yes, all those downward facing arrows mean "Ground".
You can either connect them all to the same point (star ground)
or connect them to a ground plane if you are using a circuit board.

 

[atobe]

yeah those arrows are ground. the wiring ciruit will look different on pcb. usually on the pcb there'll also be a ground running all around and you can solder to those points. it doesn't have to connect to a single point but as long as they're all connected to each other. 

 

[Avro_Arrow]

For a star ground, the main connection point would be the ground symbol
at the bridge rectifier between C1 and C3.

 

[livewire]

Yup, those arrows signify ground, and yes they should all tie to a single point in a DC
(direct current) system.
Usually ground is the negative (-) side (current return path) of your DC power supply.
Many times, instead of arrows the grounds are signified with three horizontal lines,
decreasing in size, kind of like an arrow sliced into pieces, if you will. 
 
I an AC curcuit, the ground is an extra wire, usually color coded with green insulation
(sometimes left as bare copper, without insulation) that connects to earth (physical ground).
It is there to protect you and the circuit in the case of a short.

 

[drew.haynes]

Wow guys, thanks for the fast replies. I feel bad asking these kinds of questions, because I have MORE understanding of some electrical components that I'm sure are more complicated, while being completely ignorant about some simple things like this. For example, I've read about a bunch of amps and understand why each component is in the CMOY for example, but I haven't put all the pieces together in my head in some areas.
 
So in this TREAD circuit, if all those components ground together, what is happening from a current perspective? Power is coming in, hitting that rectifier (which converts it to DC, correct?), and then continuing to each component. Once the current passes through the components, it goes to ground, but then where does the ground feed back into the circuit?
 
Does that make sense? It's more straightforward in my head when you have a DC battery-driven circuit because I can easily visualize that all components ground, and then the ground returns the current to the "Negative" side of the battery. In these AC circuits I don't visualize where the ground "returns the current".
 
Sorry for my lack of better explanation..

 

[livewire]

Whoooboy! This is where things begin to get complicated.
I suggest you take a basic electronics course, and learn the formulas that explain these relationships.
 
In your typical home amplifier system AC and DC circuits coexist together.
If things are not hooked up correctly, dissimilar ground loops can form, corrupting the audio signals, etc.
 
Electrons are always trying to find an equalibrium.
A charge can build to many volts, then eventually discharges to zero volts.
It always does this through a load to a "ground".
In our electrical world, there are three basic types of loads:
 
Resistive load (think: a heater or an incandescent light bulb)
Inductive load (think: motor or transformer)
Capacitive load (think capacitor or battery)
 
That being said, none of the above loads are considered to be "pure" in their respective forms.
For example, a resistor can have some inductive characteristics that can cause issues in some circuits.
Capacitors can have some resistance which can cause undesirable characteristics in an audio circuit.
 
Remember this: Every type of load uses up electricity as voltage passes through it.
This can be manifested by the work being done by the device. Examples of work would be a heater puts out heat
through it's resistive winding. A light bulb puts out light and heat through it's resistive element.
A motor creates torque and turns a shaft through the inductive force of it's stator/armature.
If you were to measure the electricity going into a light bulb, it might be 120 volts. When measuring the
electricty leaving the bulb after the work has been done you might only see one or two volts
returning to the ground path.
So in a properly designed circuit, the voltage returning to ground is minimal and is easily absorbed and/or depleted.
 
All electronic circuits can be distilled into three basic stages.
(although they may have many sub-circuits / building blocks that also adhere to the stages below)
 
They are:
1) Source / Input (examples: supply (wall) voltage, radio/audio signal, power supply, computer data)
 
2) Load (examples: resistive, inductive, capacitive, amplifier, cpu/memory)
 
3) Output (examples: ground, current sink, headphones/speakers, modified computer data)
 
Ok I've gone a little off the track, but wanted to present some important relationships.
Getting back to the ground thing, the depleted voltage from the load is seeking to return to it's source.
In the case of your Tread power supply, that would be the ground at the bridge rectifier, or possibly
a grounded center tapped secondary winding of the supply transformer (not shown in the drawing file).
Here are some links below that may help with understanding it.
I've been long winded enough here...
 
Links:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_(electricity)
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)
 
http://amasci.com/amateur/whygnd.html
 
Reason for edit: to repair truncated links.
Hmmm didnt work. After clicking on the above wiki links, when in wiki, click on the item after the red highlighted phrase "Did you mean:"