Coding new parts in Eagle

chip

Making new parts in Eagle CAD isn’t the easiest thing in the world, especially if you’re dealing with a package that isn’t in one of the default libraries. Usually, making a new part means digging out a datasheet and drawing a new part in Eagle. A better solution would be to generate new parts with code – define the number … Read the rest

Turning PCBs into art

board

Designing a circuit, laying out a board, and sending it off to be fabbed is so easy anyone can do it. A lot of people are, in fact, and with the traditional tools like KiCAD and Eagle, a lot of different boards look very, very similar. You could always add some cool silkscreen graphics to your board to make it … Read the rest

Assigning new packages to Eagle PCB components

adafruit-eagle-component-creation-tut

If you’ve spent any time at all laying out your own circuit boards we’re sure you’ve run into the issue of not having the right component or package available in the standard libraries. If it’s a common part, chances are the symbol definition will be there.  But perhaps the footprint you want to use is missing? Here’s an easy to … Read the rest

Taking the pain out of making custom Eagle parts

eagle

Cadsoft’s Eagle is a great tool for the independent maker. It’s a relatively easy to use PCB layout program with a ton of part libraries available for just about any project. If you’re using a part this isn’t included in these libraries, though, creating them by hand is a pain. [Dave] sent in a project he’s been working on that … Read the rest

Panelizing PCBs in Eagle

final_panel

A lot of the board houses out there including Seeed and ITead studios have a fixed size for circuit boards before the price goes up. A one-inch square board costs the same as a much larger 5cm x 5cm board, making panelized PCBs a great way to get more boards for the same amount of money. Trying to panelize a … Read the rest

Making Eagle work with circuits.io

IO

Ever so slowly, we’re inching towards a world of Internet-based electronic design tools. The state of these tools, including Upverter and other cloud-based solutions, hasn’t been all that great until now; with any new piece of schematic capture and PCB layout software, the libraries will be woefully inadequate in the beginning. This is about to change, because circuits.io is now Read the rest

Automatic, custom Eagle schematics

sch

It’s a simple fact that for every circuit you design, someone else has done it before. If you’re working on a high altitude balloon project, there’s already a project out there with a microcontroller, barometric pressure sensor, and an SD card somewhere out there in a corner of the Internet. Google will only help so much if you want to … Read the rest