Eagle Challenge for the day

[italianguy63]

OK--

I drew a 1590A PCB (.brd) template.

I have an existing schematic I want to attach to it.. (.sch)

I don't want to redraw the whole schematic again in a new project.

Is there a way to import the schematic to an existing board?

MC

[italianguy63]

I'd like to figure this out, so I can take existing schematics and merge them onto a 1590A board template.  I don't want to have to redraw the board each time, or the schematic....

I've tried several things and nothing seems to work.

I'm hoping someone here has done this in the past.

MC

[bean]

If your 1590A .brd file only consists of drawings on the Dimension or tPlace/bPlace layers, you can simply copy and paste the layers from the template brd file into your actual PCB design brd file. It won't generate an error.

[aion]

1. Open up a 2nd instance of Eagle with the schematic that you want to import.

2. Use the "Group" (box select) tool on the whole schematic

3. Use the "Copy" (duplicate) tool on the selection.

4. Switch windows to the schematic for the new project.

5. Click the "Paste" tool. A copy of the schematic should appear under your cursor so you can drop it into the existing schematic.

The only thing to be aware of is that if your new 1590A project has any parts in the schematic already, it will cause the imported schematic to be renumbered. So if you have an R1 already, the imported schematic will renumber R1 to the next available number. Not a huge issue, ut it can cause problems if you already have a parts list that you're trying to keep the same.

[aion]

If your 1590A .brd file only consists of drawings on the Dimension or tPlace/bPlace layers, you can simply copy and paste the layers from the template brd file into your actual PCB design brd file. It won't generate an error.

That works just fine as well. I usually do it the reverse way because my standard template has some boilerplate components and placements, but if it's just the board dimensions and board-only components (e.g. an enclosure that isn't on the schematic) then it's probably easier this way. Just make sure everything is set to visible when you copy.

[italianguy63]

Awesome!!

Thanks guys!

The trick was to have the 2nd instance of Eagle running.  I tried doing it with only 1 copy of Eagle running and it didn't work.

Then tried exporting/importing... but it error-ed out as well.

You guys rock!

MC

[PMowdes]

Awesome!!

Thanks guys!

The trick was to have the 2nd instance of Eagle running.  I tried doing it with only 1 copy of Eagle running and it didn't work.

Then tried exporting/importing... but it error-ed out as well.

You guys rock!

MC

You can also save schematics as design blocks and add them to other projects using the add design block function

[italianguy63]

Awesome!!

Thanks guys!

The trick was to have the 2nd instance of Eagle running.  I tried doing it with only 1 copy of Eagle running and it didn't work.

Then tried exporting/importing... but it error-ed out as well.

You guys rock!

MC

You can also save schematics as design blocks and add them to other projects using the add design block function

Great idea as well!