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Cadsoft Eagle libraries — Parallax Forums

Cadsoft Eagle libraries

John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
edited 2005-09-21 00:56 in General Discussion
Hi Guys
·
I’ve just started playing with Cadsoft’s Eagle PCB software. Guenther you’re right! The good German design is plain to see. (Have you ever been given a Mercedes Benz for free? No! Well just download the Eagle Lite software to see how it feels).
·
But I’m very lazy. Does anyone have the SX and Stamp libraries? Particularly the SX SMD components.
·
This topic must have come up before but I can’t find the string.
·
Kind regards from Kwa Dukuza
·
John Bond

Comments

  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-13 12:03
    I know that they have a library availible for download, though I don't think it has all availible packages, here is the link to ubicom.lbr.

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  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2005-09-13 14:35
    Paul

    As always - You are a star.

    That solves the SX products, now Im just looking for BS2-40.

    Kind regards from Kwa Dukuza

    John Bond
  • Guenther DaubachGuenther Daubach Posts: 1,321
    edited 2005-09-13 16:53
    John,

    I'm pretty sure, there is no BS library available for EAGLE. Mayby, you take the challenge, and design one. But be warned, creating LIBs for EAGLE is a bit "tricky" - I did one for my personal use but still have not figured out all the bells and whistles of library design. I'd really like to see a better documentation.

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    Greetings from Germany,

    G
  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2005-09-15 09:38
    Hi Guenther (Hey, I finally found the &#369[noparse];)[/noparse]

    Thanks for the challenge but I'm trying to spend less time of my spare time·on the PC and more time working with electronics.·I already spend 5+ hours a day on a PC at work.

    Kind regards from a PC somewhere in Kwa Zulu Natal (South Africa)

    John Bond
  • Dave PatonDave Paton Posts: 285
    edited 2005-09-15 21:10
    If you head over to cadsoftusa.com and dig around in the FTP directories for user-contributed libraries, there are several iterations of Ubicom and Parallax libraries available. Of course, I only found this out after I'd created my own...

    -dave

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  • Guenther DaubachGuenther Daubach Posts: 1,321
    edited 2005-09-16 17:59
    Hi John,

    thanks for the
  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-17 20:08
    Hello guys,

    I downloaded the Eagle Light software and it is very nice! I love the auto router feature! I tried PCB123 and I dont see where you can use auto routing. My question is, Can you send in your designs made from Eagle Light and have a board(s) made from it?
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-18 14:37
    Yes, fab houses which accept Gerber files can make boards created in Eagle lite (vast majority) if you follow thier submission instructions. If you want some oversight in the process (someone to check your designs over before they are made) Advanced Circuits and thier $33 apeice deal (3 boards of a single design upto 60 in2 for $99) is a good deal at www.33each.com they also have a free automated design check there as well. The boards I got from them were high quality. If you dont need oversight or your design is small, www.sparkfun.com has a deal for $5 per in2.

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  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-18 15:35
    Thanks Paul!

    Can you provide a picture of one of the boards you had made? I would like to see how it looks.
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-18 15:49
    I can try, but I haven't used my scanner in years, Ill see if I can find a driver to install for it.

    <edit> The last OS my scanner had a release for was Win95, Ill see if it will install in XP when I get home </edit>

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    Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 9/18/2005 3:49:24 PM GMT
  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2005-09-19 09:03
    Hi G
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-19 12:59
    RoboRookie, turns out I misrecollected the model number of my scanner, they want $14.50 for a "universal scanner program", so unless I can find the disk that came with the scanner (connected to my ex-ex-computer) its a no go on scanning it.

    PS Ive thought about creating an "Creating Eagle Libraries for Dummies", but Ive found the helpfile to contain all the nessesary info for normal operation of the program. You have downloaded the help file too correct? I think they have a tutorial file as well.

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  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-19 13:33
    Thanks Paul,

    I didn't mean to put you through so much trouble. I just wanted to marvel at a board you created on your own using Eagle Cad. Don't worry about posting a pic of your board. Since you do not have a quick and easy way to post the image I wouldn’t·bother with it. I appreciate you trying though!

    As for the help files, I thought that·is what came with the installation? I found a book that explains how to use Eagle Cad in detail; I am going to get this book. I Hate sitting at the computer trying to read information for extended periods of time. I'd rather get a book I can hold in my hands, lay down on the couch and do my best focusing and thinking while reading the information.

    Mike·
  • Dave PatonDave Paton Posts: 285
    edited 2005-09-19 13:44
    I'll second Paul's recomendation for Advanced Circuits. I've been using them for years, from their barebones hobbyist boards (copper, no thru-holes, no silkscreen, no LPI soldermask, just etched and plated copper) to their full-blown production service (11 layer impedence controlled mixed signal boards with custom soldermasking, crazy internal routed shapes and an impossibly short turnaround) and they've never been anything less than perfect. My favorite part is their 7 mil line/space minimum dimension, allowing me to pack some really dense routing into places other houses won't touch. The $33 each deal is the one I use most often, and it's one of the best deals around.

    -dave

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  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-19 15:30
    Mike, no Prob, Ive got a digital cam, but I have problems with autofocus in macro mode, Ill try to do AF on a peice of graph paper that the board is on and see if the AF will lock.

    The files Im refering to are:
    ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/pub/userfiles/doc/eaglehlp_pdf.zip
    ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/pub/userfiles/doc/eagapp3.zip

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  • Guenther DaubachGuenther Daubach Posts: 1,321
    edited 2005-09-19 17:14
    Hi John,

    there actually is a copy-paste functionality in EAGLE but it is a bit "hidden". First, mark the part(s) you want to copy as a group, next select the "cut" function (the scissors), right-click on the marked group, go to the location for pasting (may also be another schematic), finally, click the "magic wand", and you can paste the parts. Don't worry, the "cut" does not really cut, it makes a copy, so the original group will remain in place.

    I have EAGLE professional here, and I successfully use it for my business projects.

    BTW: I've never been in SA so far. I hope, one day I have the chance to go there.

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    Greetings from Germany,

    G
  • Harry StonerHarry Stoner Posts: 54
    edited 2005-09-19 19:03
    Just wanted to point out that in addition to the Eagle manual and tutorial PDF, there is also a well-supported newsgroup for Eagle, and I've gotten answers to some tough questions (for me) there.

    news.cadsoft.de

    Harry
  • dkemppaidkemppai Posts: 315
    edited 2005-09-19 20:07
    Dave Paton said...
    I'll second Paul's recomendation for Advanced Circuits. I've been using them for years, from their barebones hobbyist boards (copper, no thru-holes, no silkscreen, no LPI soldermask, just etched and plated copper) to their full-blown production service (11 layer impedence controlled mixed signal boards with custom soldermasking, crazy internal routed shapes and an impossibly short turnaround) and they've never been anything less than perfect. My favorite part is their 7 mil line/space minimum dimension, allowing me to pack some really dense routing into places other houses won't touch. The $33 each deal is the one I use most often, and it's one of the best deals around.

    -dave

    try out www.eprotos.com.·

    5 boards, 5 days turn, silk screen and soldermask included for $75.

    I use Advanced circuits for the higher quality stuff. But these guys are
    really good for quick turn cheap stuff. (It helps if you set min clearances
    to around 15 or 20 mils. I have had some shorts on really tight spaced
    boards).

    -Dan
    ·
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-20 03:11
    Here you go Mike, the board is 3 and 9/16th by 3 and 1/8 inches. These are the best quality images I can muster at the moment.

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  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2005-09-20 09:08
    Hi G
  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-20 12:09
    WOW Paul, you are a master in my eyes. Thanks for the photos! I really enjoyed looking at how you designed the board. The board looks so professional, the only give away that it's your design, is your name printed on the left hand side of the board. I give this board 10,000 thumbs up!

    Which fab house did you use for this one? Was it Advanced Circuits?

    Mike
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-20 12:55
    Yes Advanced Circuits, it was my first fab house board, and I chose them because of their price and their oversight of the process (since it was my first, I didn't want to make a dumb $100 mistake).

    I used the smash operator to place the text of parts in convenient locations wherever possible, an unfortunate side effect of the smash operator is that it places 1 mil location crosses in the silkscreen layer (they are the "handle" to move the text within Eagle). After submission of the board, I got an email from them asking what I wanted to do with the crosses, since they were below spec. I told them I didnt want them and they erased them from the Gerber file before production.

    Now that some time has passed, I can see places where the routing wasn't optimal. I don't use the autoroute feature because it begins to throw a fit when you start tightly packing components together, and I frequently disagreed with it's choice of routes. For instance for the SRAM, the control lines, the data lines, and the lower address lines have priority of routing since the signals transistion @ 50MHz (/WE transitions even more quickly through a delayline-XOR circuit) yet the autoroute persistantly tried to route the higher address lines first.

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  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-20 18:04
    I have got to say Eagle Lite is the best so far of all circuit cad programs I have tried.

    I have been messing around with it for about three days and have figured out how to use busses, name parts, move groups, copy paste, how to connect ground and many other various things such as changing the grid size, turning on various layers etc. I have done all this without reading any help files. I have been able to figure out most of the functions just by playing with the software. I'm at the point where I could easily design a board except for creating gerber data.

    There is one problem I am having:

    I can't seem to find common parts such as through-hole resistors, NPN & PNP transistors, etc. I have been able to download and use the capsmaster.lbr for most of the common caps but I have also downloaded about a dozen other libraries and none of them have what I need.

    Mike
  • StarManStarMan Posts: 306
    edited 2005-09-20 21:55
    Look through rcl.lbr



    Chris I.
  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2005-09-20 23:22
    Here is a practice board I have done whith what I have learned so far using Eagle. I did not try to make every connection accurate so ther might be some funny looking connections like the voltage regulator for example, I'm not exactly sure how this circuit is suposed to be, I was more concearned about learning the software. Anyway here is a pic of·my practice board. Let me know what you think.
    1643 x 1105 - 96K
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-21 00:20
    The things I see that I would change are:
    The power traces are too small, they should be wider.
    Tie the back floodplane to ground, right now it's not connected to anything.
    The switch SW1 has no purpose, both ends are already connected at the left pin of the power connector.
    There should be bypass caps on both the input and output of the regulator.
    This isnt that important for stamp designs, but for SX designs I avoid using right angles in signal lines, it can cause reflections of the signal.
    Otherwise, it looks like a good design.

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    Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 9/21/2005 12:19:11 AM GMT
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2005-09-21 00:33
    Oh and as per your previous post, browse the library in the main window, it will contain all the libraries you have. The libraries you likely want are rcl.lbr (as Chris said) and transistor*.lbr. Make sure there is a green pip in the middle column, this makes the library availible in your designs.

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  • StarManStarMan Posts: 306
    edited 2005-09-21 00:56
    RoboROOKIE,

    Pretty darn good for a first design!· I'm embarrassed to say how long it took for my first.

    The aspect ratio of the BS2 looks correct but you might want to check dimensions.· The first BS2 library component I downloaded from the cadsoft ftp site had a width of 0.7 instead of 0.6.·

    Later on, if you design with surface mount components, you may want to increase the pad size for·some of the library components.· They are okay for reflow soldering but a little tight for hand soldering.

    Creating gerber files is pretty straight forward.· It's just a matter of having the correct layers turned on.· Download a free gerber viewer like Viewmate to check your work.· Ask your chosen board manufacturer what they require.··I used SierraProtoExpress.··For·my two layer board, I needed 5 gerber files (3 top, 2 bottom) and·two Excellon drill files.

    Chris I.

    Post Edited (StarMan) : 9/21/2005 1:02:38 AM GMT
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