DIY Layout Creator - software for easy drawing PCB, vero and perfboard layouts

[davepedals]

I'll try this again:

Trying to make a PCB in this program.  Everything renders out 2-3 times larger than what should be correct size.  How do I fix this?
I want to design and print out the PCB on my transparent film, develop and etch.  My photo illustrates the problem.  Must I simply reduce size in my graphics program, or is there a way in DIYC that is eluding my tiny brain.  Help would be appreciates greatly!

[Perrow]

Everything renders out 2-3 times larger than what should be correct size.  How do I fix this?

Could you describe how you "render" your layout? There's a couple of ways to go from DIYLC to a printed layout and how to fix scaling depends.

[davepedals]

I use the two options I see in menu:  Render image, and print pnp.

[Perrow]

I use the two options I see in menu:  Render image, and print pnp.

The image I remember as being 300 dpi, it needs to be scaled in whatever program you use to print it. Print PNP I don't know about so someone else needs to chime in on that. I seem to remember that exporting to PDF should scale correctly, but I'm not 100% sure. I've been out of it for a while and don't have it installed on this computer, so I can't test while at work.

[davepedals]

Thanks for the info!


I did a PCB tonight and when I put it in my graphics program it showed it at 132 dpi . I believe that amounted to 560 pixels, I reduced it twice and the second time got it right , but that's not gonna work with every file. I reduced it to 380 pixels and it's about perfect. Thing is when you do this you have to make your tracks thicker as well as your solder pads to compensate for the reduction directly...  Not that big a deal though. I still think there's a way to render out your images the correct size within the program, just haven't found it yet.

[bloxstompboxes]

I use the two options I see in menu:  Render image, and print pnp.

The image I remember as being 300 dpi, it needs to be scaled in whatever program you use to print it. Print PNP I don't know about so someone else needs to chime in on that. I seem to remember that exporting to PDF should scale correctly, but I'm not 100% sure. I've been out of it for a while and don't have it installed on this computer, so I can't test while at work.

Exporting to PDF does, in fact, scale correctly and is the way I do it when using DIYLC instead of Diptrace.

[davepedals]

Thanks!

[roseblood11]

It would be really great to have a template for these small terminal strips, they are used in Vox amps for example:
https://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/Parts-for-Amps/Terminals/Terminal-2-X-18::3631.html
But I'm pretty sure that the specified dimensions aren't correct. The boards are from England, so I guess they are imperial, not metric. 6mm = 1/4", 38mm = 1,5", 117mm = 4,6"

[roseblood11]

Suggested new function: If "Shift" is pressed during component placement, component will be placed exactly vertical or horizontal.

[bancika]

Many of you have reported issues caused by the fact that DIYLC is not an 'official' iTunes app (Apple calls it a 3rd party app).
I was considering making an iTunes release of DIYLC, but nothing is cheap with Apple. They charge $99/year for a developer account.
I'm happy to invest time in making DIYLC better and bring it closer to users, but cannot justify investing money into platform I do not own.
If there's enough people interested, I can setup a Kickstarter campaign or a separate PayPal donation page to raise funds for Apple fees.
Drop me a PM or email if you are interested

Cheers,
Bane

[Marcos - Munky]

It's possible to do a port for android? I know there's at least one pcb drawing app for android, but it would be great if there's a DIYLC version to carry in our pockets

[Perrow]

I'd send a few dollars your way for an Android version, even though I've actually tried DIYLC on a Windows tablet (ca 2012) and it was extremely hard to use. There's likely some adjustments that need to be made for it to be "finger friendly".

[bancika]

I did spend some time but unfortunately is not easy at all. Java for android is very different from desktop version. I'd practically have to write half of the so from scratch and massively refactor the other half. It's months of work.

[Perrow]

Now that you say it I remember you answering this before when it came up.

Well, well, I'm a happy desktop user and I don't think this would make a great mobile app.

Thanks for all your hard work and whenever my list of projects get short enough I'll help out (as it looks, don't hold your breath, I wish I could devote time to it but...).

[Marcos - Munky]

I didn't know it was that hard to do an android version. Well, I'm a happy desktop user too .

[roseblood11]

I think placing the components with the fingers on a touchscreen wouldn't be much fun anyway...

[DrAlx]

Hi,
I'm thinking about making piece of software for speeding up drawing perfboard and vero layouts. It would have library with components and user would drag&drop them over board. Also, it would have it's own format and ability to save to gif/jpg.
And of course, it would be freeware
Would this be useful, should I waste my time on this?
Thanks,
Branislav

I wrote my own program for doing vero/perf board layouts.  It has connectivity checking.  You can effectively specify a netlist by painting the component pins, and it will show you where you have missing connections.  It is written in C++ using Qt in Linux.
As an example of a design I did for a vero build, check out the pictures in this document...

http://www.aronnelson.com/DIYFiles/up/FlexiFlanger_Build_Instructions.pdf

Most of the layout is done with the multicoloured pictures as these give you feedback about how things should be connected.
I hacked it a bit more since then to put in some simple autorouting and diagonal connections, and then
took some of the colour out to come up with PCB track pictures.
I used that to do the design in this document...

http://1drv.ms/1nZwx1i

My program basically lets you paint "NodeID"s onto grid squares and component pins, so there is no laying of tracks as such.
Adjacent squares with the same NodeID are deemed to be electrically connected, as are squares joined by jumpers. 

I am happy to give you the source code.   There is surprisingly little to it.   If you are interested then PM me.

EDIT...

One other example of a perf layout I did recently.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AvrH61utWEtEhVnsq-TeKXi8pIhj

and the corresponding picture in DIYLC...

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AvrH61utWEtEhVoYXK3QKkUaIQIt

Now I accidentally omitted a track in the DIYLC picture.  Can you tell which one?

If I was going to add one feature to DIYLC it would be the ability to paint "NodeIDs" onto component pins like in my own program, because even without being able to check for connectivity, you would at least be able to visualise ***desired*** connectivity.  It would be visually obvious if you had short circuits or missing tracks if the component pins in the track view were coloured. (e.g. a mixture of colored pins on a track indicate a short circuit on that track).  Disjoint sets of colored pins on different tracks indicate open circuit.

[Marcos - Munky]

Dumb question: I've been using Eagle for a long time, and decided to use DYILC again. I've downloaded the latest version, but the parts aren't showing. What I'm doing wrong?

[bancika]

did you extract the whole zip into the same folder?

[Marcos - Munky]

Yes, I copied it to a folder and extracted the zip file with the right button options (using winrar).