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PCB designs in Eagle


napierzaza
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Indeed, I had to get some guidance to figure this out too

Answer is: create a polygon around your PCB and then rename it to "GND" or "DGND" or whatever your ground is called.  Hit the ratsnest button and you should see the change.

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Don't forget to hit ratsnest afterwards.

Also, if you  want larger/smaller spaces between the traces and the ground plane by setting "isolate" which is an option that appears in the menu when the tool is selected (polygon tool). This was the first question I had once I was able to make the polygon work.

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Well, it looks like I'm late enough getting back that you guys have already found everything anyway. :-[

dj3nk- I'm no expert with it myself. I sort of just know how to get to the basic stuff that I need. Most of the stuff I know came from online tutorials and such, rather than Cadsoft's manual. I sent Nathan (napierzaza) a link to an older thread with some of the sites in it.

http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=7852.0

Nathan, yeah, I knew how to get to the "isolate" part. The thing I can't figure is how to keep Eagle from separating grounded component pins from the ground pour. I think it usually creates pads and connects them with a small "crosshair" looking trace, rather than just having one single hole in the pour, but it's been a while since I've done it.

I don't really know enough design theory to make statements on trace width. I know I use the .016 for a lot of stuff where I can, but it's probably best to beef things up where space allows it. You can always "neck down" or whatever they call it, and reduce certain segments with the "change/width" command if you need to get through a tight area. Someone here may be able to give better pointers on trace width from the electrical angle.

- Again, really thick stuff has actually given me more trouble on toner transfers than the thin traces, but the thinner ones are obviously more fragile during the etching and soldering stages.

Take Care,

George 

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The thing I can't figure is how to keep Eagle from separating grounded component pins from the ground pour. I think it usually creates pads and connects them with a small "crosshair" looking trace, rather than just having one single hole in the pour, but it's been a while since I've done it.

The crosshair is called "thermals". To change it for an existing polygon, use the Change tool -> Thermals -> Off and then click on the border (!) of the polygon.

Seppoman

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As if I didn't already have enough to do, Eagle is so incredibly engrossing! I put together a project with breadboard and it is such a pain, making my own protos makes 100x more sense. In the two days I've been using Eagle I've made a ring-modulator board, and I'll be on my way in making a sn76477 board for my chip in no time.

Anyhow, does anyone know a simple method to just select a group of components and move them around as a group? I see the group command but have only gotten it to work with copying. Also I'd like to group delete things sometimes too,

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Nathan,

Most of that stuff shares the Eagle "group" command funkiness. IIRC, it's basically:

- select "group" command

- lasso all the stuff you want

- click the "move" tool or whatever

then the clincher:

- *right* click on any of the objects you just grouped

They should all now be floating around in move mode together. BTW, you can also usually right-click while objects are in move mode and they'll rotate 90 degrees (convenient for de-criss-crossing your airwires to find a logical layout).

Hope that helps,

George

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Oooh. I guess that could be a problem. It barely conforms to most of the standard Windows stuff anyway. ;D

When you've successfully dragged across a group, the objects should become highlighted and change color. They should change color again when you right click one to initiate the move. (some of this may depend on your color assignments, but I'm not sure)

I guess there may be equivalents under the Mac interface. Someone here might use it like that and know whether it works.

Worst case scenario, the overhead to run Eagle seems to be pretty low for the basic functions (I rarely use the autorouter). If you can dig up even a crappy older PC, you can probably dedicate it just to that. I run it all the time on Socket7 machines and laptops running 98SE.

Take Care,

George 

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That doesn't work, though I'm using it on Mac OS X through llinux windowing emulation.
hmmm..... works as described on my mac (running via X11/xdarwin).

Was right click re-mapped in your eagle prefs?  or was right click "customized" in OSX?  Using a third party mouse w/driver that changes click behavior? (some mouse drivers intercept OSX ui calls to add functionality like one-click macros)

"Group":left click+drag to select objects:"Move":right click - has always worked for me, and I would hate life without it!  ;)

If no groovy let me know and I'll match your OSX, X11, and Eagle version(s) here to dig for the answer.

Best

SmashTV

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One problem (possibly) - > iScroll2
I would run screaming from iScroll if you want a stable system.  It is based on some depreciated ADB code (a workaround to make early OSX talk to legacy adb stuff) that could break a lot of things.

A quick look at the sourceforge page shows users complaining about it corrupting files and causing finder issues.

I witnessed a similar util causing file corruption in pre-osx days, the util worked fine until you pushed the system hard, then the code would cause needed file system hooks to be missed/ignored.

Not saying this -is- the cause, but it is the first thing to eliminate as a possibility. 

A scroll wheel mouse is the only way to fly in Eagle.  :)

Let me know if it shapes up without iScroll. 

Best

Smash

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Okay removed it and tested. Can group, but cannot group move, darn it.
Try holding the apple/cmd key and left click, if that works you need to look at the preferences in x11.app to see make sure "multi-button mouse emulation" or "3 button emulation" is on.  Not sure exactly what your prefs will say since I'm running a way different x11... :)

If this does not get your groups moving I'll put same x11+Eagle on another system and poke around.

You' don't recommend another track pad program do you? I like Sidetrack but couldn't pay, and it's annoying with it's reminders.
I don't know what trackware is best. I work on too many different machines to do that so there is always a mouse packed with the powerpack. I don't do the trackpad thing (unless I'm driving of course!)....  ;D

Best

Smash

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