I've been a tech for 30 or so years, and a hobbyist even longer. I've drawn PCBs using sharpies and the little transfer pads Radio Shack used to sell, then moved on to transfers. Lately I've been playing around with using Staples photographic paper for transfers, something I picked up on elsewhere on the net.
I currently use M/S paint to draw schematics, and overall am happy with the results. I've created a set of templates I cut and past off of to draw my ideas. I've also played around with using Paint for drawing board layouts with less than satisfactory results, the 1" =
1.06" size translations built into Paint doesn't cut it. I've worked around it to some extent, but I would like something better.
I've played around with EagleSoft, but as near as I can tell they require that you draw the schematics in their format, which is a real downer. Plus, many of the components I use (I buy surplus a lot) simply don't exist in their libraries.
Is there any Windows programs I can input pad shapes and define the connection points that will help me layout boards? I will be outputing the files through my Laser 6P printer, and of course it needs to be reversed for transfering. I am new to the jargon, so please be kind on the acronyms.
Any ideas? Thanks.
On a separate note, this is my first usernet post. The amount of spam is a bit intimidating, I feel I may have trashed my email account using it. It does have some meat however, and I was referred here by Bill Bowden's website, which is very nicely done. I may try something similar myself. How do you guys control the enormous bulk of spam I see on the open forum? Thanks again.
Under "Info/install" there's install instructions. "Download/site iut (ftp)" for download. Proberbly the KiCad-2007-11-29-c-WinXP_autoinstall.zip file.
Filtering builtin to the nntp reader client. Ofcourse that presumes you are not using a webinterface.
If you are serious about CAD then use a proper schematics drawing package and pcb layout program not the graphical programs which will not give you any error checking. It is easy to make your own components to add to the libraries. Hopefully someone will be along shortly with some specific suggestions... (but see below about google-groupers)
As you say, this is usenet - not a forum. You have made two mistakes, the first and major one is that you have used what looks to be your real email address so you can expect tons of spam in your mail real soon. Get a disposable email address (I am currently using snipped-for-privacy@disposable.spamcon.org) and when you start receiving spam, close it and get another. You are using google groups. This is only any use for looking at the newsgroup archive. Get a proper news client (eg Forte Agent of Thunderbird) and set it up either with your ISP news server or, if they don't have one, one of the free servers. You can then apply filters to eliminate most of the junk. Also be aware that google posters have a bad name in some groups and the regular users will have filters so that posts from "google-groupers" are never seen - so you will not be visible to some of the people who could help you most.
I make maybe 3 boards a year, if that many, so I don't really want to spend a lot of time climbing a learning curve if I don't have to. I might have to, but I'm looking around first. Lord knows I've breadboarded enough stuff over the years. If I can find a decent vector drawing package with 1:1 scaled output I'd use it in a heartbeat.
The toner transfer works well. I've had less than spectacular results, but I believe a lot of that is that learning curve I've mentioned, and what I have done is usable. For those not in the mood to read a long explination the short one is to transfer the plastic toner from a laser printer onto a clean blank PCB and use the toner as resist. The material used for printing and transfer is cheap photographic paper from Staples office supply.
This email address is disposable, and already gets quite a bit of spam. My hotmail address is worse, but I've had it for over 15 years. Call me hardheaded, guilty as charged.
I make maybe 3 boards a year, if that many, so I don't really want to spend a lot of time climbing a learning curve if I don't have to. I might have to, but I'm looking around first. Lord knows I've breadboarded enough stuff over the years. If I can find a decent vector drawing package with 1:1 scaled output I'd use it in a heartbeat.
The toner transfer works well. I've had less than spectacular results, but I believe a lot of that is that learning curve I've mentioned, and what I have done is usable. For those not in the mood to read a long explination the short one is to transfer the plastic toner from a laser printer onto a clean blank PCB and use the toner as resist. The material used for printing and transfer is cheap photographic paper from Staples office supply.
This email address is disposable, and already gets quite a bit of spam. My hotmail address is worse, but I've had it for over 15 years. Call me hardheaded, guilty as charged.
Try Press'n'Peel blue I've found it to be much easier & cleaner than the other toner transfer methods.
Both Kicad and gEDA are open source apps that you may find will make your schematic capture and board layout work a whole lot easier. Kicad has Linux & Windows versions; gEDA is mostly Linux (and other *ix-ish) operating systems only.
I've successfully made 10/10 rule (10 mil trace, 10 mil spacing) boards using Kicad and the Press'n'Peel mentioned above. I've also screwed up a few when the blanks weren't clean, clean, clean or I overheated the transfer...
Kicad does have editors for schematic modules and PCB component footprints. Sometimes you do just have to make your own but it's really not that difficult.
As was mentioned, the huge amount of spam that lately originates from googlegroups has prompted many participants to simply drop posts from that service unless they are from a whitelisted sender. Some folks are using nfilter or a similar local (127.0.0.1) NNTP server as an intermediary to do that, which allows filtering on any header line as well as on body text.
You will find VECTOR formats MUCH more useful (The files are smaller too.)
...like the guy that's still down on the farm and hasn't seen Paris.
8-)
Had you **investigated** things *first*, not only would you have found a more apt (VECTOR-based) tool, it would have come with LIBRARIES so you wouldn't have had to do that.
Again: A **VECTOR** format. (Once you use "rubberbanding", you'll say "WTF was I thinking before?")
Getting a purpose-built application which has
*Design Rules Check* and *Electrical Rules Check* will save you lots of time and pulling of hair as well.
I assume you mean Cadsoft EAGLE Lite.
Again: VECTOR formats ARE SUPERIOR to bitmaps. The sooner you abandon your "investment" in your hand-drawn bitmap stuff, the sooner your life gets better.
It constantly amazes me how people go to Google to post and DON'T use the search engine. This is one of the MOST-DISCUSSED topics in these groups
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Reading what ALREADY exists, you will find Mike Harrison's site and others. I assume you already found Tom Gootee's site.
The sooner you get over that, the sooner your life gets better. In fact, WRT Cadsoft, NOT using other people's libraries is a Good Idea(tm):
For this reason (treating their customers like thieves), I recommend that people AVOID EAGLE.
***KiCAD*** has been mentioned. It is *Free Software* (gratis and libre). There is an active support group for it.
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A real ECAD program comes with a Library Editor so regaining the lost ground is a small investment. Using library components from KiCAD uses (AGAIN: **NOT** EAGLE USERS) makes things easier.
KiCAD does **NOT** have a limit of 3" x 4" and 2-layers either. This is *truly* FREE software. (*Free* as in beer AND *free* as in freedom to do what you want to with it.) . . ...and "Marra" is a deceitful spammer. KNOW YOUR VENDOR:
If you want a real laugh - have a look on You Tube - search on nigelwright7557 - and you will come up with the 16 most rubbish videos you have ever seen - apparently he plays with his guitar to recorded music ! Really pathetic! And then he takes train rides and videos through carriage windows that have initials scratched in it - so all you really notice is the defaced window rather than the awful videoing of the passing countryside. (Thought Marra said he NEVER travels on trains now???? Bet the Eden Valley Railway will be upset to think that he does not consider them to be a railway!)
BUT......... the best is yet to come -
Yes it is Marra's own "Rocking DJ Disco ".... which was added six months ago and already has 148 viewers (althought I suspect looking at the videos Marra probably sits in his lonely hours visiting You Tube just to push up the viewing numbers )
Any way - don't all rush at once to view them - we don't want You Tube to crash under the pressure.
Those videos have really made my day - and many thanks to my new colleage from the Cumbrian Railways chatgroup for telling me about it
- I expect there will be a lot more tales to come down from Cumbria before the year is out!
Do feel free to circulate this to as many people as you like !
I took a look at a couple and, yeah, they're nothing great, but I do think they're part and parcel for YouTube. I don't judge people based on how bad their YouTube videos are. :-)
" - apparently he plays with his guitar to recorded music ! Really pathetic!"
He's trying to learn to play guitar better, maybe? He deserves credit for trying to learn new skills -- even Jimmy Hendrix would have been completely pathetic playing guitar at some point... I wonder if he'd been born in, e.g.,
2000 he'd have put some of those pathetic videos up on YouTube?
"Yes it is Marra's own "Rocking DJ Disco ".... which was added six months ago and already has 148 viewers"
Unfortunately (?) this one wasn't working when I tried to click on it.
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