CAD for PCB

[nero1985]

hey people, just a quick question, how do you guys design your pcb boards? with what sofware? im thinking about just using illustrator to do it but i would rather using something easier for this, thanks!

[JHS]

Autocad 2006 or any other similar CAD-systems.

You can download very good freeware CAD-systems that can handle this job.

Any Windows-CAD-system that can handle symbols or "blocks" will be fine. You can use special CAD-systems, able to generate a pcb layout from of the schematic data model but in most cases a manual optimizing is necessary. I prototype most circuits on perfboard and then use the perf-layout to design the pcb-layout with CAD.

JHS

[Pushtone]

I've started doing PCB in Aobe Illustrator. Works great. You can make a scale based on the Ill. "rulers" , pint it out and it matches with my West German engineers scale perfectly.

Check out the "3 band trimmer EQ" thread for a PDF of a PCB I did in Ill.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=43112.0
The link is at the bottom.

Ah heck... I'll just post the link instead.
http://www3.telus.net/david65/pedal-pics/3BandEQ-PCB-FOROUTPUT.pdf

[gaussmarkov]

eagle and expresspcb seem to be the leading favourites on the forum.  you will find lots of discussion of them using search.  expresspcb seems to be the friendliest.  i use eagle.   

[Paul Marossy]

I like AutoCAD as well. 

[rockgardenlove]

Anyone know of a good one for Mac OS X?

[Basile]

Well Cadsoft provided EAGLE for MAC OS X. Look at www.cadsoftusa.com!

Regards!

[cockaroacha]

Express PCB is easy to use, but when you print out, it also prints the drawing grid points. The software is really intended for customers to design PCBs that they will send to Express PCB for manufacture, so I think that they do that with the grid points on purpose. Some folks here have figured out how to edit the points out using other software, but I haven't tried it yet. Just do an Express PCB search in the forum & you'll find out how to do it. I've been using them for prototype PCBs for work, with good results.

Pad2Pad is another PCB manufacturer with free software. It's similar to EPCB but without the separate schematic entry. I just did a really quick test layout last week & it prints out just fine (w/o grid points), but you may wish to work with it some to figure out if it's really suitable.

http://www.pad2pad.com/

[jrem]

Eagle by Cadsoft.  Steep learning curve, but very powerfull stuff.

[Grocha]

Others freeware choices:

Kicad
http://sourceforge.net/projects/kicad

TinnyCad
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tinycad/

[O]

Express PCB is easy to use, but when you print out, it also prints the drawing grid points. The software is really intended for customers to design PCBs that they will send to Express PCB for manufacture, so I think that they do that with the grid points on purpose. Some folks here have figured out how to edit the points out using other software, but I haven't tried it yet. Just do an Express PCB search in the forum & you'll find out how to do it. I've been using them for prototype PCBs for work, with good results.

All I use is ExpressPCB and I've had great results. Just a quick example, this is Dragonfly's Sparkle Boost drawn up in ExpressPCB. The bottom layer is usually black, ready to transfer to copper. I usually print 2 copies, one like the one below for the component placement, and one in just  black for the transfer.