Hey all. Just learning to use EAGLE here, and I’m having a little problem with the PCB layout from Lecture 9. Namely, my component names are not on the Silkscreen layer.
In the tutorial, the names were visible in white from the moment the PCB started. The closest I’ve been able to find is to turn on Layer 25, but the names there are small.
I double checked the tutorial, and I don’t see why my component names aren’t listed on the silkscreen. I am using the latest of the Sparkfun library, Sparkfun keyboard shortcuts, and Sparkfun CAM file (haven’t gotten that far yet) and EAGLE 5.4.0 for Mac OS X.
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated, and for what it’s worth, the white silkscreen layer is turned on because the outline of the components is visible. Just the names are missing.
Thanks,
Tim
If you have layer 25 (tNames) turned on, but the text is tiny, then you will have to make the text bigger. The minimum text size is 0.05" with a ratio of 16%. You can either modify the parts in the library, or modify the board. To modify the text size on the board:
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make sure that layer 23 (tOrigins) is turned on
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select the entire board
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click on SMASH (or enter smash on the command line) and then Right Click
there should now be a little + mark near the component names
- enter into the command line: ch size nn
Where “nn” is the size. If the grid is set to inches, then use “.05”. If it is set to mils, then use “50” instead of “.05”. If it is set to mm, then use “1.27”. For example: ch size 1.27
Naturally, if you want the component names text larger, use a larger value.
- enter into the command line: ch ratio 16
where “16” is a ratio of 16%.
HTH
-Dave Pollum
Thanks Dave,
I was just worried that I had done something wrong, and I hadn’t thought of changing the size of all the names at once.
Thanks again,
Tim