I know Spark Fun recently had a class on some Eagle stuff did anyone happen to record that class?
I have watched the TagentSoft videos on Eagle and have been reading everything I can get my hands on. Does anyone have a good place to start?
My biggest issue is figuring out the parts. Even a simple 1/4 watt thru hole resister is a mystery when trying to find it in a library. Is there a good place to find libraries? For instance I am looking at some SMD capacitors from AVX but I can not find any parts anywhere in the libraries. I know I can create parts but there are two issues here. First is I am still designing so I have not got the parts yet so I have not got one in hand to model it after and the second is I find it hard to believe it is not out there somewhere already?
Do many of the manufacturers themselves create their own Eagle libraries?
Here is a big questions for you all. Is Eagle still the best solution? I am using the lite version and before I spend good money on purchasing the full version is that even the right way to go to begin with? I know this question has been asked and answered many times but new things come out everyday and I am just making sure that something new has not come out recently that people are flocking too.
Thank you for your time in advance and any help is greatly appreciated!
You need the manufacturers’ data for designing your own parts, they sometimes provide dimensioned footprints for their components, but it’s usually just the dimensions of the part itself. Pad sizes have to be estimated or calculated - easy for through-hole parts but difficult for SMDs. Here is a very useful calculator and lots of other stuff you can download:
Their forum is very useful, but is frequented mostly by professional designers and isn’t really intended for hobbyists (hardly anyone uses Eagle).
There are lots of other programs (some are free), I’d try them all and see which you prefer. I started with Easy-PC, which is much nicer to use than Eagle and costa about the same:
Eagle has a really steep learning curve. I drafted for over a decade with AutoCAD and when I started with Eagle I cursed its name. But after a while I got use to the Eagle way and now i love it.
If your just getting started out, I suggest designing the circuit you want with whatever parts you think are right. Then print out the board on a blank peace of paper and try to fit the parts on. If you find that that the footprint isn’t right, you could just try another footprint. I layout all my designs like that before i make my boards and it saves SO much time. Some people I know Laught at me for doing it but then again, I’ve never had to scrap a board due to “spacing” issues.
Getting your hands on it and working with it is the best thing to do.
You could try making your own library, consisting of parts that you commonly use. I personally use the Sparkfun Eagle libary quite a bit.
Lastly, not all the eagle CAD footprints are correct, so don’t assume they are all correct.
I also got into Eagle from an AutoCAD background. Actually I found Eagle to be pretty comfortable after that, since AutoCAD also has an interface style all its own, and both programs become very efficient once you get comfortable with the command line.
Printing out a mockup is crucial, I’ve saved time and money finding spacing or footprint issues before etching a board.
The easiest way to get up to speed in Eagle is to just start creating parts. Create all the parts you need in a design, one after another. Maybe create a few extra…learn how to set up package variants etc. Once you are comfortable creating parts, you’re most of the way through the hard part of learning Eagle or any other PCB CAD. You will always have to draw your own parts, there’s at least one in every design I’ve made.