[sdiy] PC board from artwork?

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

That is pretty cool, Dave.

Even though everyone seems to hate auto-routing features in PCB CAD software, I've learned a great deal in EAGLE. For example, you could set up a grid that matches your breadboard spacing, and then define layer rules that allow for wire jumpers and your preferred trace style (e.g., no 45-degree angles) and EAGLE could automate most of this for you. EAGLE also has a scripting and programming language that could speed up rote methods like this if the auto-router can't handle everything.

I spent my high school years drawing PCB traces by hand, using a protractor to line up the through-hole positions (close enough for my drill size). I quickly moved to the rub-on decals.

Later, when the special blue paper for laser printers came out, I did layout by directly creating the PCB in the PostScript language. Since everything is mathematical in layout, it was easy to parameterize nearly every aspect of a PCB. I was using my NeXT computer at the time, so it was easy to see a preview of the PostScript output on the screen in precise 1:1 dimensions. Then, printing the same program to the printer resulted in no surprises. The hardest part was dealing with tiny trace widths and those heat-transfers. After a few SMD-to-DIP successes and one failed full design, I decided it was much better to let the machines do the etching.

Brian


On Oct 21, 2016, at 12:19 PM, David G Dixon <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> wrote:
> Here's what one of my boards looks like (the original Korgasmatron):
>  
> <Korgasmatron I PCB Guide.png>
>  
> Here's what the finished board looked like, front:
>  
> <Boardfront.jpg>
>  
> and back:
>  
> <Boardback.jpg>
>  
> Pretty cool, eh?
>