Does anyone prefer diy layout for PCB?

[9Lives]

I've used this program for a while now just to whip up lil experiments in my mad scientist lab. I always grazed over the pcb and perf and went straight vero. Veros getting old and I prefer to just etch a board. Neater, cleaner, not so temporary feeling. Plus when you get BIG vero layouts like the openhaus and philosopher's tone it's quite the task to debug.. Oh yea.. Did I mention how bad eagle PISSES me off! I'm just not quite smart enough, or just a little to dumb. It goes over my head with all the errors and junctions..im missing somthing.. Anywho. I highly recommend this program for anyone who loves making their own layouts and a lil to dumb for eagle (itll will be my bitch one day but for now I'm her's). Ones I got the hang of think 3, 4, and 5 steps ahead it got pretty neat.

o ya, one question. I havnt used this as a transfer yet. When I go to print the pnp is it already sized out or do I have to figure that out. And how would one go about doing that?

[stecykmi]

i use eagle, but i admit it is sort of bloatware. i don't think eagle is necessary at all if you're doing 1-sided boards for etching.

[midwayfair]

DIYLC can't do ground planes without a ton of work; I would also worry about the resolution and print scaling (no, it's not properly scaled). Printouts look pretty grainy.

I don't etch, but I don't think this would be my first choice from what I understand of the process, at least not without Photoshop running interference.

Perf is far easier to debug than vero, just FYI. Still no ground planes, though!

[stecykmi]

meh, fair enough but ground planes are overrated, especially with small 1-sided boards. i can understand with a complex circuit (especially if it has both analog and digital subcircuits).

plus diy layout usually makes traces that are chunky enough that etching them isn't a big deal.

[9Lives]

I'm working on one now that I'm using photoshop to darken the traces and ran a fatty ground plane up the middle. The paint icon . Alls I'm sayin is for tubescreamerish size circuits this is way easier to slap together. For me atleast.

[culturejam]

The learning curve on Eagle is stupid-high. Took me forever to get the hang of it. But, I do think the benefits of it outweigh the difficulties of learning it.

I like that I can make one layout and output for different production formats: etching or fabrication, one or two sides.

The ground fill thing is nice. And you can also make the fill be tied to any net you want, so it could be +9v, or VREF as well. And with two layers, you can do ground on the bottom and +9v on the top (which is what I do most of the time). Saves a ton of time in routing.

It's overkill for a 5-part fuzz, but even then it's nice.

[jubal81]

I'd say it took me about 10-15 hours of hard work to get comfy with Eagle. I know it's daunting but I promise if you just stay at it you'll get it.

If you really want to do layouts, skip DIY Layout altogether.

[9Lives]

I've done SEVERAL things with eagle but never completely finished. What I always have a prob with is: WHY the %#+& does it keep telling me I need a junction in every friggin' wire I draw. It seems like it throws up errors for everything I do... I actually got pretty comfortable with all the commands it's just the wires in the schematics. Am I missing somthing?

[gtr2]

You need to use the net tool for making connections in the schematic.  Not the wire tool.

Josh

[jimmybjj]

You need to use the net tool for making connections in the schematic.  Not the wire tool.

Josh

+1 i did the same thing when i first started

[LaceSensor]

do you need to have a schematic to be able to layout a PCB in eagle?

[gtr2]

do you need to have a schematic to be able to layout a PCB in eagle?

Yes

[culturejam]

You need to use the net tool for making connections in the schematic.  Not the wire tool.

Josh

+1 i did the same thing when i first started

Ugh, me too. Hell, I didn't figure that out until a couple months ago. 

[culturejam]

do you need to have a schematic to be able to layout a PCB in eagle?

Yes

I recall a long time ago that I was able to draw just a PCB layout in Eagle. But I can't remember how I did it. I think I just drew the traces, but it's kinda hazy.

But yes, for all practical purposes, you need to have the schematic done first.

[9Lives]

where is the net tool and how does it work?