Do you know a good PCB design software?
electrosys
Posts: 212
What -PCB design software- do you guys work with?
I would like to find (download) an easy one and start to work with, but I
really don't know any, as I mostly working with breadboard and prototype
PCBs! Do you know a good one to start with?
I would like to find (download) an easy one and start to work with, but I
really don't know any, as I mostly working with breadboard and prototype
PCBs! Do you know a good one to start with?
Comments
Go to http://www.cadsoft.de/download.htm
I'd also recommend checking out YouTube for some quick tutorials to get going.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=pcb&cm_sp=Homepage-uk-_-DesignSpark-_-Right-Column-Banner
So i uninstalled it.
Eagle is good and very common. You will be able to get lots of help on just about any electronics forum. I personally do not like the interface setup, but I do use it from time to time.
Don't use any free versions offered by fab houses unless you plan on only ever using that fab house. Every one has some sort of catch to stick you with them.
Also, search the forum as this question gets posted about every other month so you should already have several more answers to add to the pile.
I started out on ExpressPCB (which I now put in the same box as the devil, when it comes to wasted time and money).
I tried Eagle because it "is common" but it's much more involved in learning compared to other PCB CAD suites.
I tried others as well (can't remember their names at the moment). But DipTrace was simple to learn, but still didn't limit you.
As said before, the free version is not very limiting (as long as you stay with small/simple boards), but some of the things that make a full blown suite useful is only available in the paid version.
The 250 free non for profit version could be upgraded to a non for profit 500 pin just asking. Maybe the offer is still valid.
Moreover if you panelize the boards the limit pin should not sum up, the limit is supposed to be on the single board.
As an alternative check Tinycad+freepcb or kicad, bot free.
Massimo
DesignSpark PCB is a free version of it promoted by RS Components
http://www.designspark.com/pcb
I use it, but only a limited amount. It does some stupid things sometimes. Once you kind of figure out how the settings work, you can make it work for you.
What i do is lay out the board (the auto-layout is a bad idea if you care about board space or any EMI), manually run the important traces like heavy power traces, and distance-sensitive traces. Once I'm down to the regular traces (up to your discretion), I let auto-router take care of it. It's kind of essential to use it for a large portions of the board when you get to complex boards. I recently (and will again soon) laid out and routed a board with 1800+ pads and 4 layers (seemed complex to me).
I then have to go through and spend plenty of time cleaning up the routing. Most of the problems are traces that could be shorter. Usually the fix is just dragging the corner in closer to a component. But sometimes I find places where rearranging a trace or component can reduce the overall length of the traces. One of my large boards I was able to take six feet of traces off with my cleanup method. I find I can usually reduce the total trace length by 8 - 10%.
In conclusion, it works, it just doesn't handout optimal results. But ultimately, the more complex the board, the more time it saves you.
KK