Eagle Layout Help

[sbelyo]

I just installed Eagle 4.13 and I have no clue where to start. Is there some place with a walk through on how to set board size or how to place components?

 

[Fresno Bob]

Might have to use trial and error you can use some of the board layouts from this fourm just do a search. i know guz has his on here and a couple other members do as well. plus you need to know what kind of board you want to layout ie cmoy-pimeta-mint-ect. hope i have helped you some.

 

[sbelyo]

Yeah... That's what I started to do. It's definitely not like ExpressPCB.

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbelyo how to set board size

Say MOVE, click on board edge or corner, put it where you want. (When I say "say MOVE", you can either type the MOVE command, or use the move tool, or probably even pick it off the menu if you really want to.)

Quote:

how to place components?

ADD.

 

[z2trillion]

Does anyone know how to fenestrate connections to the ground plane in eagle? Everything I've tried doesn't seem to work.

 

[sbelyo]

Thanks Tangent...

I was wondering if there is a way to add the components that someone made on their board to your library?

 

[drewd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by z2trillion Does anyone know how to fenestrate connections to the ground plane in eagle? Everything I've tried doesn't seem to work.

What do you mean by "fenestrate"? That is, I know what fenestrate means, I just can't quite picture it in the terms that you're asking about.

-Drew

 

[guzzler]

it's actually very tricky to set a board size, outside of standard library ones (Eurocard). The best way is to type in GRID, and then in SIZE, set it to say 1mm, then count the number of clicks along a line it goes. To draw a boundary, set the Layer to Dimension (20), and thickness Zero, then just draw the appropriate line. After you've finished, just set the grid back to the original value.

It's a bit daunting at first, but I personally much prefer it to ExpressPCB. Just experiment, you're not going to break anything!

Regarding holes in groundplanes, I think you can do it using the Change->Rank function, you'd have to read up the Help file though

g

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Does anyone know how to fenestrate connections to the ground plane in eagle?

It happens automatically, depending on your DRC settings. (This is one of the reasons why I like EAGLE better than ExpressPCB.) Unless you've changed something, you should be getting fenestrations. If not, look at the following:

- Are you in fact defining what EAGLE considers a ground plane? That is, a named polygon? That's a polygon, not a rectangle!

- What line width did you set when drawing the polygon? The width of the polygon line sets the fenestration line width, so if you did something silly like use a 50 mil line, you won't be able to see the fenestration lines unless you have a huge minimum pad-to-wire distance in DRC.

Quote:

I was wondering if there is a way to add the components that someone made on their board to your library?

You know, there may be a copy of the component within the board file, but trying to extract it is the wrong way to go. You just need to get a copy of the relevant lbr file. If someone's giving out board files but not the lbr files that go with them, they must not want you to have the component.

Quote:

count the number of clicks along a line it goes

You don't need to count clicks. The cursor position readout in the upper left tells you where you are. And you also don't need to set an extra-small grid: just Ctrl-Click the line to force it to align to the current grid.

 

[Greg Erskine]

hi sbelyo,

I'm just learning eagle as well and have found this site to be most useful.

http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_eagle.htm

The german eagle site also has many good links so have a look there as well. Look for the libraries, forums, pcb manufacturers etc.

http://www.cadsoft.de/

I initially found eagle a little difficult because it doesn't strictly follow the windows way of doing things but with a little persistance I am finding it quite easy to use.

I looked on most of the DIY forums for any schematics, boards and libraries, to downloaded. These have given me a good insight to how others are using eagle to design pcbs. Don't forget to have a look at tangents libraries.

 

[sbelyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Erskine hi sbelyo, I'm just learning eagle as well and have found this site to be most useful. http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_eagle.htm

Thanks Greg, that site is straight foward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangent You know, there may be a copy of the component within the board file, but trying to extract it is the wrong way to go. You just need to get a copy of the relevant lbr file. If someone's giving out board files but not the lbr files that go with them, they must not want you to have the component.

I could ask for the file, I just wanted to see if I didn't have to bother him. I'll just make my own. That's the only way to learn anyway.

It's a seven pin tube socket that I need. If anyone has one for eagle please chime in.....

 

[guzzler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbelyo Thanks Greg, that site is straight foward. I could ask for the file, I just wanted to see if I didn't have to bother him. I'll just make my own. That's the only way to learn anyway. It's a seven pin tube socket that I need. If anyone has one for eagle please chime in.....

try tangent's site, he's got a few library parts up there...

g