Parallax SX20 Chip

Archive BatchPCB
1

Has anyone made a board with the SX20? Everytime I submit a design I fail the DRC with 8 errors, I have made the traces far apart from each other so I don’t see where the error is. When I get the e-mail alert and I look at the picture there isn’t any place that is highlighted in yellow. The spacing between the SX20 pins is 25.6 mils so I can’t seem to locate the problem.

Thanks,

Adam

2

It might be helpful to say which pcb software you are using.

anyway, open up the gerber file in a text editor and look for the aperture definitiions section, It will look something like this:

%ADD100C,0.0630*%
%ADD101C,0.0120*%
%ADD107R,0.0063X0.0078*%
...

the numbers with a decimal point define the size of apertures (think brush shape). You will likely find one that has a dimension less than 0.008. In this example, the 3rd aperture (D107) is too small. Then look farther down in the file for a section that uses that aperture:

D107*
X017737Y008998D03*
X016634Y008998D03*
...

each line is an X and Y coordinate where the aperture is used. those are the locations where batchpcb is throwing-up.

The above gerber was produced by gerbmerge so yours may differ slightly.

note also that your pcb software may offset the board’s coordinates when generating the gerber so the locations may be off by a bit. At least that will give you a starting point. viewmate will display exact locations if you can’t find it with your pcb software.

3

I am using EagleCAD, I’ve set the DRC to check distances to 8mil, and will pass the eagle cad DRC, but then I fail the BatchPCB DRC. Is there a way to set something in EagleCAD so I don’t have to manually change specs with a text editor.

Adam

4

sumguy16:
I am using EagleCAD, I’ve set the DRC to check distances to 8mil, and will pass the eagle cad DRC, but then I fail the BatchPCB DRC. Is there a way to set something in EagleCAD so I don’t have to manually change specs with a text editor.

Adam

you don’t have to change anything in a text editor but you need to figure out where batchpcb barfed. it’s really not that bad but suit yourself.

you didn’t say if you had any copper (aka ground) pours with default isolation. that will definitely give batchpcb indegestion…