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PCB Software
RussellT:
Hi Phil
I'm glad to hear you've cleared the first hurdle. I've always found the free version board size plenty for my projects too. I've never been bothered by being restricted to only two layers either.
As with the CAD stuff on the other current thread the first steps are always the most difficult. As I recall some of my initial difficulties were dumbing it down enough. It's all very well the autorouter wanting to put three tracks between the pins of a chip, but the board has to be etchable and solderable using my skills. I found that the software could cope quite well once I found out how to make it do what I wanted. Please ask if you get stuck.
Russell
PK:
If you are happy defining pad layouts for any IC package not in it's default library, then use any PCB package you want.
If you don't fancy spending 20-60minutes just defining each new chip then you have to use a PCB package that is used by enough other people that there is a chance that someone else has done the work for you. That means Protel,Eagle, or maybe Kicad. Of these only Kicad is free, the free version of Eagle has too many restrictions to be useful.
Like all CAD, there's a bit of a learning curve, so choose wisely.
We develop PCB's for a living, so our perspective is a little different. We couldn't afford Protel, Kicad wasn't around a few years back and still has limited libraries (although I understand there are now import scripts for Eagle libraries), that left Eagle which I have about 5 licenses for. We pretty much hate the user interface but, having put the hard yards in to learn it, and spent the money to buy it, we'll probably keep using it.
Will_D:
Ahh you youngsters don't know how lucky you are these days. An atuorouting pcb package for free that runs on a laptop!
Ha I say!
In the late 70s working for ICL in West Gorton, Manchester, our department (call DA - Design Automation) were developing the software to layout/route/track/test 14 layer pcbs about 18" square and 1/4" thick for our mainframes.
The auto router program used to run for hours on our biggest mainframe and at the end the design may have 20 or more "handwires".
There were competions in-house to re-route the boards and reduce the number of handwires!
How times have changed!
sparky961:
I've always used Eagle and although it has quirks (what software doesn't?) it is more than capable and has a lot of flexibility to add your own parts. The UI is a bit stupid but get past that and it isn't that bad to use. They've always had a free version and most hobby projects can be completed with it. If you get beyond that, design in modules or just pay for it.
Disregard the autorouter. You can do a better job on your own most of the time. Use the grid with snapping and only turn it off when there's a good reason to do so.
Country Bubba:
I use a combination of Eagle (free) with the pcb-gcode.ulp to generate the files. Then I also use autoleveler for probing the board prior to "etching" to adjust the gcode for the irregularities in surface height.
Works very well for me. As noted above, you can find it at pcbgcode.org or there is also a yahoo group which is generally more active.
You can find the yahoo group at:
groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/pcb-gcode/info
Autoleveler is found at:
http://www.autoleveller.co.uk/
And to refine your abilities to make excellent boards, I also recommend reading:
http://phk.freebsd.dk/CncPcb/calibrate.html
Art
Country Bubba
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