Eagle for dummies

Digital tools for electronic work: software for pcb design, schematic drawing, circuit simulation, parts inventory tools, ...
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sinner
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Post by sinner »

I'm starting myself in Eagle. I did my first layout but cant find the tool to create pads for ins, outs, ground and powering. How the fuck I should do it?

I'm starting to miss DIYLC ;)

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Post by rocklander »

you got further than I did.. it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to place a component, and then I couldn't even find a normal resistor. :oops: thought I had to import some library, but doing that confused the crap out of me and I completely failed.. went back to expressPCB
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sinner
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Post by sinner »

rocklander wrote:you got further than I did.. it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to place a component, and then I couldn't even find a normal resistor. :oops: thought I had to import some library, but doing that confused the crap out of me and I completely failed.. went back to expressPCB
Before I did anything I've checked out this tutorial http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/tools/ ... eagle-cad/ and the video tutorials from the page address I lost someware (I've stored those videos on my HD). Apparently 3 days of watching those was not enough ;)

I've switched off default library and used gaussmarkov.net library instead. This way finding right component was much more easier

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Post by marshmellow »

The library wirepad is your friend :wink:.

Or, you place a via and then give it the same name the net has you want it to connect to.

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Post by sinner »

Ok, I've typed "via" into commend field and I have the pads, but... How I add tracks to PCB draw? Funny. I have the ins, outs, ground and power symbols in the schematic, but not in the PCB...

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Post by marshmellow »

Honestly, I'd use the wirepads :wink:. Because if you ripup the whole trace because you want to change it or whatever, the via will go away and you will have to place and rename it again.


You don't see them in the layout, because they are only symbols. If you want to go with the vias:

- Place a via.
- Type name and click on the trace, where you want to connect the via to.
- Use that very name (probably something like "N$37") and rename the via to it. Now you should have an unrouted connection.

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Post by sinner »

Thanks marshmellow. I did lil searching here on FSB and it looks like you're Eagle Mastermind. Huge respect bro, this thing confuse me a lot.

I'm going back to tutorials, I wont give up ;)

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Post by earthtonesaudio »

Wirepads are in the "supply" library folder. So if using the gm library only it is under gm_supply or something like that. There are also pads that will automatically name the net you attach them to (such as "GND").
rocklander wrote:hairsplitting and semantics aren't exactly the same thing though.. we may need two contests for that.

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Post by sinner »

Thanks guys, I've managed to sort it out. I must say, it's not as bad soft I was thinking at first. Second day with it and I'm doing visible improvements

BTW, autorouting function kickass. It took me 4 days to draw BMP layout in DIYLC, I did one, even greater in like 40 minutes easily.

One more question. I'm using freeware v.6.1. It's worth to upgrade it to commercialized version?

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Post by jwpartain1 »

I don't have the retail version, so I can't comment on if it's much better than the free or not. BUT I use the free version of Eagle in school, and I've never felt it lacked anything. In other words, the free version covers your bases... for free! :)

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Post by azrael »

I use Madbean's eagle library, but it's basically an updated Gauss Markov one.

One thing I can't figure out is how to do jumpers. I've just been using resistors on the schematic, setting them as 0 ohm, but it doesn't work electrically and confuses the program as a result.
Anyone got tips for that?

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Post by culturejam »

Sinner, you have to approach Eagle this way: What happens on the layout must first happen on the schematic. So if you want extra pads on the layout, add them on the schematic. Schematic:Layout is 1:1 (if that makes sense)
azrael wrote:One thing I can't figure out is how to do jumpers. I've just been using resistors on the schematic, setting them as 0 ohm, but it doesn't work electrically and confuses the program as a result.
What about that doesn't work? I mean, it makes the schematic harder to read, but it actually does work on the layout (I've tried it).

I thought madbean had a part in his library for jumpers. If not, it would be an easy one to create. But you'd have to create one part for each size/length jumper you wanted to use.

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Post by marshmellow »

There is a library named jumper :wink:. But then you would have to place for every jumper a part in the schematic. And then you rearrange and have to put the jumper somewhere else... total PITA and clogs up the schematic. I would just route on the second = top layer.

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Post by azrael »

Doesn't match madbean's library haha.

I only really use jumpers for single sided layouts, so I might just do the top layer trick. Good call! :thumbsup

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Post by sinner »

culturejam wrote:Sinner, you have to approach Eagle this way: What happens on the layout must first happen on the schematic. So if you want extra pads on the layout, add them on the schematic. Schematic:Layout is 1:1 (if that makes sense)

Thanks CJ, I managed to find it out ;)

Is the way to switch between layers when doing double sized layout?

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Post by azrael »

Missed your post, culturejam. It does work, but you have to be clever about what you connect to what, for routing purposes on the board layout, since it doesn't view the "resistor jumper" as one node.

I'll probably end up making some parts, but I haven't really looked into it yet. Hope it'll be easy to make it seen as one node. :D

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Post by Chrome Dinette »

sinner wrote: Is the way to switch between layers when doing double sized layout?
Do you mean moving a trace from one layer to another?

You just right click on the trace and select properties, where you can change anything about the trace.



What I have been trying to figure out is whether the default trace width can be changed for an entire board. The default seems to be .01 and it gets tedious changing every trace to a bigger size.

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Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

You can set a minimum trace size and it will resize every trace found too slim
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