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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=243560719-21102016><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2 face=Arial>No, it's fine. I know that my methods are a bit "off the
grid" but they work for me. One thing I like about my layouts is that they
pretty much use as little board real estate as possible in a single-sided board
scenario. Also, my layouts are exceptionally easy to build. However,
the best thing is that I can have my module up and running while most people are
still waiting for their boards to come back from some fab shop, and the total
cost to me is about $1 per board.</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> Quincas Moreira
[mailto:quincas@gmail.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 20, 2016 8:51
PM<BR><B>To:</B> rsdio@audiobanshee.com<BR><B>Cc:</B> David G Dixon; sdiy
DIY<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [sdiy] PC board from artwork?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Hey you guys, leave Dave alone! He's a maverick, and a
diyer with best selling designs by a major manufacturer, all while using a
spreadsheet program to design prototype PCBs! I think he deserves
Sunglasses and A Snoop Dogg soundtrack :D
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 10:19 PM, <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:rsdio@audiobanshee.com"
target=_blank>rsdio@audiobanshee.com</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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class=gmail_quote>I find it very therapeutic to work on a layout in Eagle. I
can spend hours fine-tuning placement of parts and traces.<BR><BR>The nice
thing about using a tool is that you can then quickly check your design for
the different specifications of various PCB fab houses. I might start by
designing to OSHPark's Design Rules, which they provide in Eagle format for
download, but then I'll switch to a custom Design Rule file that I've
developed while working with Advanced Circuits (4PCB.com). Sometimes,
changing the Design Rules will require more work on the layout, which is
potentially another opportunity for therapy, depending upon how you look at
it and whether there are any deadlines.<BR><BR>Another nice thing about
having a tool is that almost nothing is any harder than it really needs to
be. That way, the effort is spent on the unique aspects of the project at
hand, rather than spending time on the limitations of the
tool.<BR><BR>Brian<BR><SPAN class="im HOEnZb"><BR><BR>On Oct 20, 2016, at
5:56 PM, David G Dixon <<A
href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca">dixon@mail.ubc.ca</A>> wrote:<BR>>
Tom,<BR>><BR>> The Excel thing was originally for laying out
breadboards. I hated "improvising breadboards at the workbench" and
wanted a tool for laying them out. After getting fed up with
breadboards, I decided that I could also use it to lay out PCBs. Since
I make all my own PCBs in my laundry room basin, I had no need for anything
more sophisticated. Plus, I was able to do pretty decent layouts in
fairly short order, and I found it somewhat therapeutic to do so, so that's
why I never bothered to learn anything else. However, lately I've been
thinking that I really ought to join the 21st century with this stuff.
I'm taking a sabbatical from teaching in 2017, and will be devoting a lot of
time to synth-DIY activities (including finally learning how to
program microcontrollers), so perhaps I'll learn a layout software.
(One thing, though, is that I hate soldering "professionally made"
PCBs. I much prefer soldering my own single-sided boards, even though
they often require a fair<BR> number of wire jumpers.)<BR>><BR>>
Cheers, Dave<BR>><BR></SPAN><SPAN class="im HOEnZb">> From: Tom
Wiltshire [mailto:<A
href="mailto:tom@electricdruid.net">tom@electricdruid.net</A>]<BR>>><BR></SPAN><SPAN
class="im HOEnZb">>> David,<BR>>><BR>>> It's truly
remarkable that you put up with such a hideously involved method. I mean, I
know how these things evolve, so I completely understand how you got there,
but if you stand back and look at what you're doing, given the software
that's available, it doesn't make any sense. At the time, you used the tool
you had. Then you used the tool you'd used before, and developed it. Before
you know it, you're doing full-scale layouts in a tool designed for
something completely different, with none of the benefits of a tool designed
for the job.<BR>>><BR>>> Honestly, try one of the options that
have been mentioned. I'd put in a shout in for RS' Designspark too, although
maybe they don't have such a presence on your side of the pond. I don't use
it (I'm on DipTrace which has already been mentioned, and which I'd also
recommend) but I've heard lots of good things from people who
do.<BR>>><BR>>> Regards,<BR>>>
Tom<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>> On 20 Oct 2016, at 04:40, David G
Dixon <<A href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca">dixon@mail.ubc.ca</A>>
wrote:<BR>>>> Hi Quincas,<BR>>>><BR>>>> I have
made a bunch of little graphics in Excel, using just rectangles, lines of
various colours, etc, which represent chips, resistors, caps, diodes, etc,
with their leads and pins. The first thing I do is set the grid to 16
x 16 pixels so that the spreadsheet cells are all little squares. Each
square represents 0.1". Then I select "Snap to Grid" in the Drawing
menu so that when I move the parts around they snap to the 0.1" grid.
Then I just do the layout by pure blunt force by carefully working through
the schematic.<BR>>>><BR>>>> The layouts are facilitated
by sticking to a certain basic plan. The power rails go down the
middle of the board from left to right, and all the chips straddle these
rails. Hence, the first row of pads next to the rails accommodate the
chip pins. The next rows of pads are for things that connect between
adjacent chip pins, like small stability caps in opamp feedback loops.
The next pads are for components connecting out from the chips, such as
resistors and diodes. These are all 0.4" long, and thereby straddle
three potential rows of traces and/or pads. I call this three-lane
conduit the "boulevard" and it is through here that I route signals around
the board. Beyond that is a row of pads for the other end of all the
resistors and diodes, and then a row of pads for off-board connectors, and
finally a ground trace which typically encircles the entire board. The
boards are arranged symmetrically around the rails. This means that
all of my analog boards are either 2<BR> .1" wide, or 4.0" wide for
"double-wide" boards (which share a ground trace down the middle between the
two halves).<BR>>>><BR>>>> Once I've got the layout done,
connecting all the parts with different coloured traces (lines with ball
ends in Excel), and the layout is reviewed and error-free, then I copy this
layout to make several different graphics. One is "parts-only", one is
"traces-only", and one is "pads only". The "traces-only" graphic is
made up of all the traces in the layout, and is made up of several layers of
lines. All traces are made up of three layers of lines, with ball ends
of various sizes to make up pads, and smaller lines with small ball-ends on
every line to give rounded corners. Finally, all power and ground
traces are copied and made wider than other traces. These are all
consolidated into a single graphic. The "pads-only" graphic is made up
of small circles combined with larger invisible squares to force them to
align on the grid. These small circles sit over the ball ends of the
traces, and exist to provide small drill-guide holes for the pads for easy
drilling.<BR>>>><BR>>>> Finally, the pads and traces are
turned black and combined to make the transfer graphic. This is what
is printed and transferred onto the PCB. Finally finally, the transfer
graphic is covered with a semi-transparent white rectangle, and then the
"parts-only" graphic is superimposed on this, and that makes the "build pic"
which is actually what the completed board will look like. I use this
graphic when I'm stuffing the board.<BR>>>><BR>>>> Sorry,
that was long, and probably hard to follow. I'll just email you an
example so you can see for yourself.<BR>>>><BR>>>>
Dave<BR>>>><BR></SPAN><SPAN class="im HOEnZb">>>> From:
Quincas Moreira [mailto:<A
href="mailto:quincas@gmail.com">quincas@gmail.com</A>]<BR></SPAN><SPAN
class="im HOEnZb">>>> David, could you describe how you lay out
PCBs in Excel? very curious :)<BR>>><BR></SPAN>
<DIV class=HOEnZb>
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<DIV><BR></DIV>-- <BR>
<DIV class=gmail_signature data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Quincas
Moreira<BR>Test Pilot at VBrazil Modular</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>