Panelizing with Eagle?
Mar 21, 2006 at 7:00 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 14

kin0kin

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I'm looking to transfer a project/board to another board in order the panelize them but I have no idea how to import them into another project and most of the time I ended up redrawing the whole thing which is really a PITA. does anybody know how to import a board into anotehr board so that I can panelize them?
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 2:53 AM Post #2 of 14
hello? some help please? nobody tried to panelize with eagle?
confused.gif
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 4:43 AM Post #3 of 14
Well, since no one else stepped in...

I'm not sure that you can panelize in Eagle. I think you need to take the generated Gerber files and use some panelization software to lay those out. Perhaps the full ($$) version of Eagle can do this (you didn't specify what you have).
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 5:28 AM Post #4 of 14
Quote:

I'm using Eagle to create a small board that is 3" x 3". Is there any easy way to create the output files with a 3x3 grid of my little board?
Do all the following steps with a copy of your board file:
Use panelize4.ulp to copy the device names into a separate layer (so they won't be renamed there during multiplication).
Enter DISPLAY ALL and then GROUP the complete board. CUT it into the buffer, and don't forget the final mouse click to set the reference position. PASTE it as many times and where you like it.
Save the panelized board at another name.
For CAM data generation, use _tnames instead of tNames for the silkscreen file.
Alternatively, you can use GerbMerge to panelize one board multiple times, or panelize different jobs into a single board. It is a free (GPL) program.


Enjoy. Use the ULP button on the top tool bar near zooms. (Amazing what a few key words in google will get you. Relearn google.)
I tested it with one of the sample projects and it seems to have worked. No errors or anything from what I gather.

<>BTW, this will be near impossible to do if you do not have an upgraded version as you will probably run out of useable space fairly fast.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 5:50 AM Post #5 of 14
hi people, thanks for the reply. have the full version of Eagle
smily_headphones1.gif
I'll give that a try tomorrow. I might end up using a gerber merger if that makes things easier. Now i have to figure out how to out the boards properly since the company doing the pcb doesnt cut panelized board.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 6:24 AM Post #6 of 14
ok i tried that, it works...but not exactly what i am looking for. I am looking to import another board, instead of just panelizing the same board.

i.e.
Board A: 4 X 4
Board B: 4 X 2

I want to panelize 1 X board A and 2 X Board B to a 4 X 8 board. But the above method only allows me to panelize a particular board. There must be some way to import the other board...there are lots of ulp available but i dunno what exactly each do.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 7:53 AM Post #7 of 14
Panelizing in Eagle is pretty simple, I just figured it out tonight. All you have to do is use the Group tool to select an entire board, cut it, then in the same window, create a new board file, and paste it in. For the other boards, just open their *.brd files, select them, cut, then open the saved panel board file, and paste it in. Using the same window is critical here, they have their own paste buffer, and you cannot copy and paste between different instances of eagle. Here is a quick picture of 4 of my amp boards panelized this way.
panelize.png

Kudos to the first to name all 4.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 10:57 AM Post #8 of 14
clockwise from top left:
thru-hole mint
some kind of CMoy?
bottom are both your SMD mints, but the one on the left has a bandwith-setting resistor for the buffers
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 4:22 PM Post #9 of 14
Try doing that with the same board. You cannot just copy and paste the same board without using the ULP. Actually, you got away with it because you named all your parts differently. You can't have two parts with the same name so if you have a board with R12 being the last resistor, when you copy and paste, you will end up with R24, by the time you get through a panel, you could end up with a board that has R109-R120.

<>See my below post #11 for proper way to panelize from multiple files.
I was still tired from last night so I missed a few posts above. I was just explaining here that without using the panelize.ulp, your part names will change on you. Sometimes you will even get errors when you try paste without panelizing first.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 5:15 PM Post #10 of 14
still looking for an absolute solution done directly in eagle. The parts do have similar names in both boards and I'd need to retain it that way for the silkscreen. I'm sure there is a way to do it, I'm rather busy during week days and have little time to tinker with them, I'd really appreaciate if people could spoon feed me with a solution (i hate being spoon fed and i know ppl hate doing that but........
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)

EDIt: oh wait, I misread Paragon's comments.....so cetoole's solution does work in my situation? I only need to panelize 2 boards together and there are different boards.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 5:37 PM Post #11 of 14
Open your first file
Execute panelize.ulp
Group
Cut (don't forget origin click)
Open your other file
Save as different file name
Execute panelize.ulp
Paste the other board in

Enjoy.

<>yeah.. I can be a bit confusing at time especially when I am tired. I missed your post #6 and was assuming you needed to just panelize one file. Hope this solves it.
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 7:40 PM Post #12 of 14
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paragon
Open your first file
Execute panelize.ulp
Group
Cut (don't forget origin click)
Open your other file
Save as different file name
Execute panelize.ulp
Paste the other board in

Enjoy.

<>yeah.. I can be a bit confusing at time especially when I am tired. I missed your post #6 and was assuming you needed to just panelize one file. Hope this solves it.



thanks for the follow up. I'm pretty tired now as well
tongue.gif
, will give that a try later
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 8:27 PM Post #13 of 14
I must have been tired when I was ordering parts.. ended up ordering the prototype board with NO planes. Bummer. Either I spend $10 or so in shipping to get what I was expecting, or I figure out something else for grounding and interference suppression.

Oh well..
 
Mar 22, 2006 at 8:58 PM Post #14 of 14
Quote:

Originally Posted by rsabo
some kind of CMoy?


It's an A47
*cough* my A47
wink.gif
he stoeld it...
 

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