The more complex opertations take longer to master. The learning curve for the program is not too bad. The integrity check can then be ran to insure everything is still in order. Tell the program to delete all the back annotation changes. After you make the changes and do a integrity check the progam warns you that you have made board changes that have to be back annotated to the schematic. You do not want to make the change on the schematic and forward the changes to the PCB. Then make the same changes on the PCB including updating the netlist names to match the schematic. One thing I have learned is that if you make a design change, you need to make the change in the schematic. In this case, send an email to BatchPCB and they will manually pass the board. Of course this creates design rule violations in the Easy-PC DRC check if you are in fact using 8 mil or smaller traces. Increasing the minimum trace size to 10 mils will keep BatchPCB from rejecting the design. The BatchPCB house(Sparkfun) rejects the design if you have copper pours and your minimum trace size is set to 8 mils. I have only had problems with one board house and the gerbers. The rules include things like trace to trace, trace to pad, and trace to board edge spacings.Īfter you complete all board checks you can then generate the gerber and drill files for manufacturing purposes. You can setup all the design rules to match what you and your board house require. This checks to make sure there are no manufacturing violations or shorted traces. Next you run the connectivity check to make sure all the connections are correct. This insures the schematic and board match. Once the board is complete you then run an integrity check. You then drag the components out onto the board where you want them. You use the "Translate to PCB" tool which places all the components into a component bin similar to what Eagle does. Finally you link the two together to create the actual component that is used by the program.Īfter you design the schematic you then design the board. To make a library part you create the schematic symbol first. I have a lot of AVR parts in my libraries that I created. Someone mentioned that it could only create PIC parts but that is not true. I haven't found any part that cannot be created. The parts creation process is really simple, especially if you use the wizard. If the included libraries do not have the parts you will have to create them. The schematic has to have all the correct parts (meaning packages) in it. You can make a board without a schematic but only do this for the most simple boards. To make a board you create the schematic first. But the autorouter probably saved 100 hours of putting the traces in by hand (assuming I could have pulled that off). In the case of the 5X5 board above, I spent approximately 24 hours cleaning it up. So plan on fixing the majority of the traces yourself. The design that the autorouter produces is not pretty and is in no way suitable for manufacturing. I use it only to get the traces in place. It routed the board in less than 2 minutes.
#P CAD 2006 PRO#
I downloaded the trial version of the Pro Router and installed it. After over 12 hours of running and not completing I shut it down.
The board was a 5X5 inch, 4-layer board with over 300 components. I actually purchased Pro Router when I was trying to design a complex board about 2 years ago.
#P CAD 2006 FREE#
The free one that comes with the program isn't very good. Basically what I am doing is giving the router the best chance at completing the connections.Īs for the autorouter, I purchased the Pro Router. My design experience goes back to the black tape and Bishop pad days. I place the components on the board based on the connections between them and on over 30 years of board design experience. I use the autorouter most of them time if the board has more than about 20 components on it. The user forum is fairly active and you can find good tips there.
I have encountered a few minor problems but Tech Support has always been quick to respond (M-F) with the solutions. They were all 2-layer and 4-layer boards with the exception of 2 single layer boards. I have purchased 2 upgrades to get the features that were added with the upgrades.ĭuring the 3 years I have designed approximately 50 boards. I have been using it for a little over 3 years. He was asking if anyone else had used Easy-PC. This reply is for steve17 in response to a post he made on July 28. I haven't looked at this post in about 6 months.