Using eagle and making pcb's

[PMowdes]

Hi All

I recently taught myself how to use Eagle for designing PCB's and I was wondering if anyone would be interested if I put together a tutorial to post on here.  I definitely made a few mistakes with my first few attempts so I figure that if there is something that can help others than I'm happy to do it.  

I realise that it kinda goes against the purpose of this site but I really enjoyed getting from a schematic to a professionally made pcb.

Anyway, I feel like it would be a good way to give something back to this community.

Cheers

Phil

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

count me in! i learned myself eagle too.but after finishing my first pcb, i couldn't extract any usable file...i had bigtime problems with the layers so i said f*&^ it....
i can't really understand how i can make a clean printable layout!

[PMowdes]

ξεναγος νεκροπολης wrote

count me in! i learned myself eagle too.but after finishing my first pcb, i couldn't extract any usable file...i had bigtime problems with the layers so i said f*&^ it....
i can't really understand how i can make a clean printable layout!

Where did you get to??  Once you have completed the .brd you need to use the CAM processor to create the relevant Gerber files.  I use a pre-defined cam job file which puts all of the layers into the required Gerbers.  

I can't say I'm an expert but I know it works and I have produced functioning pcb's using my method.

[Marbles]

Would love that!

[BassVD]

I would love that too!

Recently I bought a PCB for a pedal and it was so much easier and faster to work with than stripboard. And as I'll be making more of the same pedals, it'd be super easy too have some PCB's made.
It's also more fool-proof when compared to stripboard, at least in my opinion, so I can push my gf a little to do some soldering too.

[PMowdes]

OK I'll get on it.

[Andy Miller]

I have been ordering pcbs from Oshpark, and all I send them is the .brd file.  If I needed to create Gerber files, well I guess I'd have another thing to learn!

[mug]

Definitely interested as well!
To start from there are also some short video tutorials available on the cadsoft site
Maybe we could also collect some links where to get a PCB manufactured apart from Oshpark?

[Sensei Tim]

i've used these tutoritals to help learn eaglecad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AXwjZoyNno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTs0mNXY24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECEuAoxyJLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFLSLB5u18s

[PMowdes]

Whilst there are a whole bunch of useful tutorials (I found the one on sparkfun very useful) there isn't a comprehensive one that I found works specifically for pedal layouts.

I made a whole bunch of mistakes including not running the solder pour to the GND net, and not running the GND pads to GND.

I'll put something together, If you guys find it useful then it's all good, if not, oh well whatever nevermind.

[motterpaul]

Go to this board, Chris got started on this process early in his involvement here, and requested this board:

http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Circuit-designs-f6438.html

[Travis]

Hey Phil. I just started with eagle and first I'm making a schematic.

I'm having some trouble getting the parts to "stick" to each other. In other words, the lines are touching/overlapping, but the program doesn't recognize it as a connection. Do you know how I fix this?

[Ciaran Haslett]

Use the Net (3 green lines) tool when drawing connections.  This guarantees the connections will match when you switch to layout view.

Use the Junction (green dot) tool if you want crossing lines to join together.

You'll find other wee quirks that will bug you but you'll pretty soon get the hang of it.  Great piece of software.

[motterpaul]

Here is another link for you guys - I was looking for a perfboard layout for a 4-position 3-pole switch, but I found this.

http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2015/05/rotary-clipping-switch.html

anyway - this is a good site (many of you probably already know about it).

[Sensei Tim]

Also,

Get the gausmarkov and madbean component libraries.   You'll thank them both later ;)

On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 11:35 AM motterpaul [via Guitar FX Layouts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Here is another link for you guys - I was looking for a perfboard layout for a 4-position 3-pole switch, but I found this.



http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2015/05/rotary-clipping-switch.html

anyway - this is a good site (many of you probably already know about it).

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[PMowdes]

Travis wrote

Hey Phil. I just started with eagle and first I'm making a schematic.

I'm having some trouble getting the parts to "stick" to each other. In other words, the lines are touching/overlapping, but the program doesn't recognize it as a connection. Do you know how I fix this?

Hey Travis,

I've had a similar issue, i think it originates from the component in the library being created on a different scale grid (the default grid is 0.1inch).

I haven't found a way to fix it (i suspect that it would require modding the component library) but there is an easy work around.

Draw the net (wire) before placing the component on top of it, you should get two junctions (dots) either side of the component.  

You can then use the delete tool to delete the net underneath the component (click on the component with the delete tool, toggle between the component and the net using a right click, once you have selected the net leftclick to confirm deletion)

It's a little bit more long winded but it works ok. to check that the net is connected to the component select the move tool and try to move the component about.

[PMowdes]

I'd steer clear of the gausmarkov library, whilst it is pretty comprehensive and much easier to navigate than the existing eagle libraries when it comes to the board layout and getting the boards made the solder pads are tiny.

Conversely the pads on the madbean library are a little large but i'd rather that than too small.

My biggest tip

Make sure that you choose the right components from the library on the schematic

component spacing and pad size are critical for the board, choosing the right parts at the beginning will save a whole load of ball ache later on when you layout the board.


I'm getting the guide together, i'll try to make sure i cover all this so you'all don't make the same mistakes i did.

Cheers

Phil

 

[PMowdes]

I'm afraid this is taking me a little longer than I expected, sorry guys and gals.

I was also wondering if it would be a good idea if we can upload gerber files to the forum that people can use to get their own boards made.

I have a 3pdt daughter board and a bigmuff board that I've had made and verified.  I'm happy to share the files if people want to get them made themselves.  I have a bunch of other boards to but I haven't got around to verifiying them yet.

[Chris60601]

If folks are using OSH, no need to upload the gerbers here - it would be more valuable if you uploaded the sch and brd files here. This way, folks could tweak them to their own liking. Of course, if your intentions are not to have folks modify, then I suppose gerbers might be the way to go I guess. I myself rarely use gerbers unless I plan on having more than the 3 boards made for prototyping.