This is my first time using Eagle. I’ve been reading a bunch of SparkFun tutorials on the program and I’ve successfully created my schematic and I’ve layed out all the components on my board. I’m having some issues though. I’m trying to make a board that is going to be daisy chained to a few other of the same boards. I’m going to have 6 of them chained together, 2 wide, 3 high. I’m trying to copy this design:
http://www.e-stynus.com/images/docu/uv_ … step_3.jpg but I’m having trouble with the square pads that are on the bottom of the board there. I’ve tried adding test points and they add fine, but when I go to route them, I get an error message: Can’t set via to layer ‘16’ at blah blah. I have also tried instead of adding test points, just using the Rectangle button and creating a small rectangle. If I use the rectangle button though, I can’t route anything from the rectangles.
I’d like to just have squares like that on the board and route the voltage ones to each other (one on each side of the board). They need to be on the bottom of the board. I’m guessing for some reason, they’re on the top part of the board and that’s why I get the error message about not being able to set the via. Is there away to tell Eagle I want those test points on the bottom of the board? Or should I be using a different component, something other than test point? Thanks!
I believe I found the solution! First off, I was putting the components on the wrong side of the board. I incorrectly thought that when I was routing, if I picked the bottom layer, it would move the component. Once I got the components on the correct side, everything went as plan. I also found some pads in the SolPad library which seem to do what I want. Thanks anyway!
I’m glad you figured it out on your own. As a quick note, when you draw ground planes (or any signal plane) in Eagle, use the polygon tool instead of rectangle. Right after you select the polygon tool, type the signal name you want the plane to be associated with in the command bar at the top of the screen. Draw the outline of the polygon and when you are done, click RATSNEST to show the plane. If you didn’t type the name of the plane before drawing it, you can select the polygon and use the NAME command to change it to whatever signal you want.
When you say signal, you mean like GND or VCC, right? What are the benefits to using the polygon tool instead of the rectangle? I’ll be sure to use polygon from now on.
You cannot name rectangles. Naming lets you connect signal or supply to other nets while not physically connected on the schematic. For example, you need to name the ground plane GND for it to actually be connect to ground.
