[Noisebridge-discuss] creating a circuit board

[Brandon Edens]

Hey Jake and all.

I designed a PCB a few months back using the gEDA tools and can share some
tricks / tips that I picked up there. I think the most enjoyable part of
the whole experience was being able to build out microchip schematics using
the djboxsym tool:
http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/dj_delorie/tools/djboxsym.html
with a sample at:
http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/dj_delorie/tools/sample.symdef

and being able to design footprints in a non-wysiwyg manner. Meaning that I
hand edited pad information and the like in my text editor.
See this document for a head start:
http://www.brorson.com/gEDA/land_patterns_20050129.pdf
Here's an example of a JST 2-pin socket.

# JST 2 pin connector
# Brandon Edens

Element["" "jst 2 pin connector" "" "JST2" 0.0 0.0 0mm 0mm 0 100 ""]
(
    Pad[-1.0mm -1.9mm -1.0mm -5.5mm 1.0mm 0.6mm 1.6mm "+" "1"
"square,octagon"]
    Pad[ 1.0mm -1.9mm  1.0mm -5.5mm 1.0mm 0.6mm 1.6mm "-" "2"
"square,octagon"]

    # Pads for securing part to PCB
    Pad[-3.4mm  0.6mm -3.4mm  2.4mm 1.6mm 0.6mm 2.0mm "" ""
"square,octagon"]
    Pad[ 3.4mm  0.6mm  3.4mm  2.4mm 1.6mm 0.6mm 2.0mm "" ""
"square,octagon"]

    ElementLine [ 4.0mm -4.5mm  4.0mm  3.0mm  0.01mm]
    ElementLine [-4.0mm  3.0mm  4.0mm  3.0mm  0.01mm]
    ElementLine [-4.0mm -4.5mm -4.0mm  3.0mm  0.01mm]
    ElementLine [-4.0mm -4.5mm -3.2mm -4.5mm 0.01mm]
    ElementLine [ 4.0mm -4.5mm  3.2mm -4.5mm 0.01mm]
    ElementLine [-3.2mm -4.5mm -3.2mm -2.0mm 0.01mm]
    ElementLine [ 3.2mm -4.5mm  3.2mm -2.0mm 0.01mm]
    ElementLine [-3.2mm -2.0mm   3.2mm -2.0mm  0.01mm]
)

Brandon


On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 1:12 PM, Nicholas Granado <ngranado at gmail.com>wrote:

> sweet. i'll swing by monday night then!
>
> nick
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:
>
>> fuck eagle!  didn't you hear Richard Stallman's talk?  Why would you use
>> a payware software that is closed source?  You are not even being allowed
>> the freedom to know what instructions you're putting on your computer.
>>
>> And if a friend asks you for a copy, you have to either tell them no,
>> which is a terrible thing to do, or give them an illegal copy, which is
>> also a bad choice.
>>
>> The right thing to do is to use KiCAD or gEDA, both of which are free
>> software, free as in speech AND free as in beer.
>>
>> I have been using KiCAD, and after a really frustrating learning period
>> (i have used McCAD and PCAD before) I have finally figured out how it
>> works, and i can say I am pleased with it.  It still is frustrating at
>> times but the worst is over, and overall I don't think it's worse than any
>> other program.  I have never been able to operate Eagle, maybe i'm dumb.
>>
>> One thing I like about KiCAD is that it uses the keyboard a lot.  i
>> dislike having to use the mouse for things that could be done with the
>> keyboard.  You still CAN use the mouse for everything, but you don't have
>> to.
>>
>> I will be working on a circuitboard almost every time i come to
>> noisebridge from now on.  That will usually be monday nights and tuesday
>> all day, and sometimes wednesday.  I invite you to see how i do it.
>>
>> Also you can ask Hao who has been working on the robot, he is good with
>> KiCAD.
>>
>> -jake
>>
>>
>> Nicholas Granado wrote:
>> is there a class given at noisebridge on using eagle and making circuit
>> boards?
>>
>> nick
>>
>>
>
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>


-- 
Brandon Edens | brandonedens at gmail.com | brandonedens.org | key 0x42248B92
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