Homebrew PCBs

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Autorouters


> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 09:52:11 +0100, leon_heller
> <leon.heller@...> wrote:
>
>> I've just taken a moderately complex double-sided board that I'd
>>
>> routed manually, and routed it on the autorouter.
>>
>>
>> I've uploaded the two images to lcdpub (elsie1.gif and elsie2.gif),
>>
>> can anyone identify which was which?
>>
>>
>> Leon
>>
>
>
> That's a tough one!
>
> I've taken them and put green circles over things that caught my eye,
> which i would probably have done differently. There are surely many more,
> but i just wanted to show you what i looked for.
>
> elsie2 is missing a lot of traces (ground), so that makes me think it
> might have been the autorouted one. But then those signals would have been
> too easy to route, why should the router not have made them?
>
> Elsie1 has a lot of "ugly corners" but no vias at all. elsie2 is neater in
> most corners, but has several really unnecessary vias.
>
> No, i would hazard a guess you routed elsie1 manually and you simply care
> much less about how it looks than i do.
> I would prefer elsie1, with a few pushes and shoves i could use it as a
> finished layout, but basically, neither is what i consider finished.
>
>
> By the way what is this? a LC meter? i just bought a automatic RLC meter
> off ebay, maybe i should have asked you first? ;-)
>
> thanks, and do tell which is really auto.

You got it wrong!

I had to make some compromises with the routing like adding tracks/vias to 
get the copper pour areas on the top and bottom to connect properly.

I've uploaded the finished version - elsie3.gif with Bob Barr's suggestion 
incorporated.

The meter design (my PCB is for an Enhanced ELSIE-2) is described here:

http://www.amqrp.org/kits/elsie/index.html

It works very well - output in Morse via the little speaker, on the LED 
display and via RS-232 - and is very accurate. It had to fit in a standard 
Hammond plastic box, which was a bit tricky.

Leon