layout question

I'm doing the required footprints myself. It just takes a couple of minutes. It is not that hard and you then know they are right.

Rene

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[Question1] difficult one, i've been the contractor as well as the in-house EE its possible to get good results from contractor if you specify completely, don't assume the oak is an expert in your domain. if there is any funnies spell them out ... [Question 2] i normally do it myself @ least i know what i'm getting

What package are you using?

But as Rene said, making a symbol should be pretty easy, if you can figure out the help file terminology

martin

One time I had to do a PCB layout in a hurry using software I was not very familiar with (and therefore had not created a library of my favorite oddball parts), so I paid a layout guy to come up with a couple of dozen footprints. It was sort-of worth it, and the job got finished on time.

A lot of the work is just organizing all the information, actually creating the footprints should go pretty quickly if you're reasonably good at using the software. Every project typically involves creating some new footprints and some new schematic symbols. Unless they're multi-hundred pin chips, it shouldn't be such a big deal, particularly when you're laying out a lot of the board by hand. It also depends a bit on how fussy you are about creating schematic symbols- some people like to see the functionality represented inside, which might take a lot more time than just a rectangular block with properly labeled pins.

Getting PCB layouts done by outside contractors can be tricky. Harry Delamano posted a checklist of how he does it a year or two back, Google groups should find it. I have also had the experience of having to redo a lot of the work. Aside from mixed low level and high level signals, also things like clearances for high voltages, isolation, minimum trace widths on certain traces and so on.. it's all doable with good people on both ends, but you do have to be careful.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Some eval tools are availble for download here...

These are supposed to be IPC, good start tho.

Cheers

If I found the one you referenced, we're aging more quickly than we realize. 8-(

*-*-all-critical-parts+*-my-approval+a-list-of-critical-Nets+zzz+rules+*-work-with-*-*-PCB-designers+author:Harry-Dellamano

Gack.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Being able to produce symbols and footprints is an abosolute basic skill you need to learn. libraries are often not laid out the way you want them so you have to modify them anyway.

The biggest moan, on my antique Accel package is that all the TTL/CMOS components have the Ground and Vcc pin hidden in the schematic, which can be confusing when you use more than one 5V supply.So creating a modied part is essential. Apart from that it hasnt crashed in several years :-)

Making you own libs is essential, and part of the job, and can't be avoided

martin