eagle work flow

[artifus]

share your tips.

i'm new to this. these are my tips from what i've learned so far:

find a good library. gm and mb are good.

start small and don't go overboard before creating a .brd from a .sch.

create a .brd early and swap between .sch and .brd frequently. (alt 1 & 2 keyboard shortcut in win)

don't be afraid to delete. you can recreate later.

do not include any gnd or vr connections until brd is vaguely sensibly arranged.

learn to group and move.

auto route can actually be quite helpful. as is the undo function.

find some friedly design rules to use. google hobby.dru for a good start.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-Electronic-Schematics-with-CadSoft-EAGLE/?ALLSTEPS


x

[armdnrdy]

Artifus.

What is mb library?

I googled mb.library eagle and nothing comes up.

I've been using Eagle for about 3 years now and like any "new" program it takes a bit getting used to. Remember the first time you hopped on a PC? It was very alien wasn't it? You didn't even know how to email! That's how it was when I first started using Eagle. Now I think that it's a great program with lots of features that I'm still discovering.

One point that I have to disagree with you about is the usefulness of the autoroute function. I used autoroute on my first board (MXR 117 Flanger) and it left way too many traces unrouted. I ended up routing it manually. Maybe it works okay for lower component count type builds.

Board routing is an art form, it's like a game of chess. You have to get from point A to point B without crossing the lines or in the case of chess, getting captured.

One thing that I found useful is to print out the board in black and white and look at it away from your PC screen. This lets you look at it from a different perspective, often seeing ways to accomplish things that you just could not figure out glued in front of your screen.

When working on a larger board, I print, review, and revise as many as twenty times after it is completely routed.

[artifus]

mb = mad bean - it developed from the gaussmarkov lib - google is your friend. i found it on the circuit workshop forum i think.

yeah, it's taking some getting used to but i'm quite liking it and can see it's usefulness.

as for auto route - planning. i guess i semi auto route - arrange as best i can, second guessing autoroute, try it, undo, rearrange and auto again. sometimes it suggests a route i hadn't spotted before. manually route what you want, auto, undo, redo. yeah, it's like a puzzle and can be quite enjoyable. i suggested boarding a bit of the circuit at a time to avoid the yellow net board nitemare you get if you try doing a whole scheme before going to board. i find it easier to do them in tandem.

[armdnrdy]

Madbean eagle library came right up in google.

I have already modified many of the devises in gm library and have made a ton myself for my own library.

Today I modified the package for the 1N4148. The pad drill size was too large. The pads were sized for 1N400X series diodes. When using the restring function to enlarge the pads on the entire board the 4148 pads would get too big!

Just like anything, it helps to know your way around Eagle!

[Gurner]

I'd throw the following into the mix (not eagle centric) which used to catch me out as afterthoughts...

Always have an eye on where your external board wires are gonna come off (in other words don't leave this until the end & then realise your final board layout forces you to pepper you board with single wires), I prefer to have all board wires presented near a board edge...but maybe that's just me.

Mounting holes ....your pcb board needs to be held down to something (unless you are of the double sided foam tape ilk....it's surprising how much space mounting holes can eat up (especially you're wanting to design a very small SMD board!)

Grounding ...with relatively low level guitar signals, you need to think long & hard about your signal ground routing  ....keep it away from stinking/polluted high current power grounds & star the two together closest to the the power source that you can....there's nothing quite like the immense let down that having wasted a week on a pcb design to establish that - because your signal ground was routed for ease (rather than with an eye on good working practices) -  your signal to noise ration is horrific & the circuit unuseable (I have a large sweet tin full of such epic 'fails')


Eagle centric tip ....get familiar with a CAD package (draftsight is a good free one) & do any custom library parts in CAD vs eagle (then just import the resulting DXF file into eagle using a free app called dxf2scr.exe) ...for custom parts, doing the part outline direct in eagle from the datasheet will make you wanna start visiting 'you can beat your depression' type websites.

[artifus]

yes, good as gm and mb libs have been in getting me started i have suffered some frustration in finding some parts with what's available to me. and resistors - 7mm seems to be the norm but requires an extreme angle to fit when 8 or 9mm would put far less stress on the bend. anyway, yeah - i should prolly learn to make my own parts.

[armdnrdy]

I've worked up some pretty extensive, out of the norm projects in eagle and have yet to make a part from scratch. I usually modify an existing component. (symbol, package, and then put it together as a component)

I print out the data sheet, find something similar, and then rename, add, subtract, rearrange pins. If I'm punching an existing schematic into Eagle sometimes a particular symbol such as a 40XX gate will be drawn differently than the Eagle version which will make the schematic "messy".

I don't know how many SA570, NE571 symbols I have in my library! It seems like every analog delay has a differently drawn symbol!

[armdnrdy]

yes, good as gm and mb libs have been in getting me started i have suffered some frustration in finding some parts with what's available to me. and resistors - 7mm seems to be the norm but requires an extreme angle to fit when 8 or 9mm would put far less stress on the bend. anyway, yeah - i should prolly learn to make my own parts.

I've been through that as well! I've made quite a few "custom" sized resistors.

If you PM me I'll email my resistor library if you'd like.

[kodiakklub]

I'd throw the following into the mix (not eagle centric) which used to catch me out as afterthoughts...

Always have an eye on where your external board wires are gonna come off (in other words don't leave this until the end & then realise your final board layout forces you to pepper you board with single wires), I prefer to have all board wires presented near a board edge...but maybe that's just me.

absolutely! the in, out, 9V, LED+, and GND pads are the first things to go on the board.
i dont autoroute. i tried it once when i learned eagle and I just ended up ripping up all the traces. never looked back.
if a circuit involves an IC or 2 or more, put the IC on the board, then start arranging the components that connect directly to it. then group/move/rotate it around til you find it fits the best with the secondary "orbit" of parts stemming from the IC(s)

Grounding ...with relatively low level guitar signals, you need to think long & hard about your signal ground routing  ....keep it away from stinking/polluted high current power grounds & star the two together closest to the the power source that you can....there's nothing quite like the immense let down that having wasted a week on a pcb design to establish that - because your signal ground was routed for ease (rather than with an eye on good working practices) -  your signal to noise ration is horrific & the circuit unuseable (I have a large sweet tin full of such epic 'fails')

i guess i really need to read up on grounding. i always make one big ground plane first with a polygon. i dont separate grounds. i've never had a noise problem though....

getting the parts that you use the most in your library IS KEY to SPEED. i am very fluent in autocad so i will have to try import DXF's. trying to draw a part in eagle will induce manic depression as stated above.

[kodiakklub]

and can i say that i love when eagle topics pop up. i feel like we are the total minority. and ive always wanted to have a handle called "veroisforwusses". 

[trixdropd]

Does anyone have enclosure outlines for eagle?

[armdnrdy]

Does anyone have enclosure outlines for eagle?

I think I saw mention of an enclosure outline in the mb library that artifus mentioned at the beginning of this thread.

Google search Madbean Eagle library

[Gurner]

i guess i really need to read up on grounding. i always make one big ground plane first with a polygon. i dont separate grounds. i've never had a noise problem though....

Most DIY stomp circuits are quite low current & you can probably get away without paying too much attention ...but throw a higher current device into the mix (audio amp, a few LEDs etc)  & you'll likely get bitten ...throw an MCU into your circuit (for exotic switching) & I can guarantee you'll get bit! (but I guess it's not until a someone has been bit that they then learn about proper grounding on a DIY pcb design!)

getting the parts that you use the most in your library IS KEY to SPEED. i am very fluent in autocad so i will have to try import DXF's. trying to draw a part in eagle will induce manic depression as stated above.

Quite...and it's pain that most defer ...Eagle becomes a lot more 'can do-ish' Once you nailed how to do make your own parts...and do have a go at importing a dxf file from autocad using dxf2scr.exe & you'll never look back. (dxf2scr.exe converts a dxf file to an scr file, which you then import in Eagle). I had to make a 13 pin DIN PCB socket in eagle the other day...http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9518/13pinpcb.jpg       bordering on insanity doiung the outline/holes within Eagle, but quite quick using a cad program.

[davent]

Again not eagle-centric but before i commit to a layout i print it out and build the pcb on a piece of styrofoam using the actual components to ensure i've left enough room for things and catch other irregularities.



I only ever etch my own boards so to aide in drilling i give all pads a 20mil hole no matter what size the drilled hole will be. The resulting small etched dimple acts to self-center the drill bit when that tedious job comes around. Drill all holes with a #71 drill bit and that covers just about everything, simple matter to redrill the very few holes that will need to be larger.

dave

[kodiakklub]

it took a lot more googling that usual so i thought i would post the link for the dxf converter:
http://www.micromagicsystems.com/#/dxf-converter/4523812840

happy cad'ding