'packing' 2 small boards in a square

Archive BatchPCB
1

Hello,

I’m getting ready to send a first order: a simple 2-layer, 1.0 X 1.0 inch board. Since I had some place left in my original layout, I decided to place a SSOP8 footprint in the empty corner, wired to pin headers. This SSOP8-to-DIP converter is for another project, so I want it cut off from the main board.

To do this, 2 things aren’t clear to me, even after reading the FAQ, the Eagle tutorial, and a number of threads on this forum:

1-

Where and how do I specify the external border for the whole circuit? In my case, this is the 1 X 1 inch square that I’ll be charged for (hopefully!)

I know I put a rectangle in the 20-Dimension layer (I’m using eagle-4.13), but it doesn’t show up when I import my gerbers in Viewmate.

2-

As for that piggyback footprint, can SFE do what I want? If so, how do I specify it in the required gerbers? I thought I could put lines in the Milling layer, but it didn’t look too kosher… I have no idea if sparkfun’s CAM file takes care of routing and milling guides.

I was going to attach a gif of what I want to do, but I didn’t find out how… here’s a link instead:

http://rsc-mirror3.netfirms.com/2/sq.htm

I hope it’s clear enough! if not, I can upload my gerbers, or a screenshot of my layout, or whatever…

As I said I read the FAQ, the Eagle tutorial and quite a few threads on this forum, but I didn’t find any satisfying answer…

Maybe I should email my .brd file to spark@sparfun and say “I need 21 copies of this 3-layer board by monday, with 45° stripes of blue and red soldermask on every alternating odd-numbered copy… BTW, what is a Gerber???”

:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

thanks for any info,

Christian

2

CSB:
1-

Where and how do I specify the external border for the whole circuit? In my case, this is the 1 X 1 inch square that I’ll be charged for (hopefully!)

I know I put a rectangle in the 20-Dimension layer (I’m using eagle-4.13), but it doesn’t show up when I import my gerbers in Viewmate.

I put the dimensions on the top silkscreen layer, my board turned out fine. I cant answere your 2nd question, but it sounds like you want it v-scored. If you are planning on actually cutting it out your self, you could just put both designs on the same PCB than seperate them yourself.

3

Assuming that both of your boards are rectangular, you can actually submit two boards and they will cut it for you. You will only be charged for 1 sq in as long as your boardis still less than the 1 sq in (with the additional 30 mil cut allowance).

(board 1.x + 30 mil) * board1.y + board2.x * board2.y

thats the formula that you will be billed for

this has been discussed on other posts as well if I didn’t explain it well enough

4

starboarder2001:

CSB:
I put the dimensions on the top silkscreen layer, my board turned out fine. I cant answere your 2nd question, but it sounds like you want it v-scored. If you are planning on actually cutting it out your self, you could just put both designs on the same PCB than seperate them yourself.

From what I read, I can only get it v-scored if I order a full panel.

This is what I think I’ll do:

trace a 1.0 X 1.0 rectangle in the top silkscreen layer

trace a 0.2 X 0.4 (or whatever the dimension is, I can’t remember) rectangle in the corner, leaving at least 30 mil between the two boards.

I expect that the router will cut out both boards nicely, as if I had had the two boards panelized seperately, right?

Or, I’ll have the 1 X 1 square with a line delimiting the corner piece, which I’ll have to cut myself.

I’ll send this layout, and SFE will probably let me know if I messed up something. I hope not!

Thanks for the replies

Christian

5

Excellent! I got an email saying I passed the DRC.

I can’t wait to get my boards (10-18 days + mailing time)

Thanks to everyone contributing to this forum

Christian