This is for those who Think sprint layout is no good

[bryan1]

Hiya Guys,
Well after Hero999 nearly got a yellow card for putting down a members first pcb attempt I decided to redo the board in sprint layout so he could get a decent idea of how good a cheap pcb software can be. The longest part of doing this board was working out the pin spacings for the switches as thats one thing sprint didnt have in the macros.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Hero999]

It's a heck of a lot better but some of the angles are a bit too tight in my opinion. Acute angles have a tendency to etch poorly: I wouldn't recommend going below 45° unless there's no alternative.

I've discussed this in the other thread.
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/playground1-png.31081/
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/diy-toner-transfer-paper-cheap-and-easy.94601/

 

[bryan1]

Hero I done a heap of boards with those angles and never had a bad etch in those area's your nit picking. I've done it using pnp and transparencies and no problems at all. Anyway after i do any transfer I go over the whole thing and if I do see any flaws out comes the ultra thin sharpie pen and any flaws are fixed easily. All the tracks on that board are 0.8mm so theres plenty of area where any joins are.


For Boncuk below, That picture is the photo view feature in sprint layout, it is handy as you can see just how the board will turn out

 

[Boncuk]

Hi Bryan,

any layout software is as good as the board designer.

I personally don't like green on green.

 

[MrDEB]

I hope you double checked the schematic

it had some minor problems that I corrected using express pcb
here is my pc board design
all the traces are .025
That green background is hard on the eyes.
never heard of SPRINT pc board software.

 

[Hero999]

Hero I done a heap of boards with those angles and never had a bad etch in those area's your nit picking.

Every PCB design guide I've read warns against using acute angles.

Try to follow this guide as closely as you can and you should never have any problems. Obviously it's impossible to follow all of the rules 100% of the time, just try to do so whenever practical.

It depends on what you're doing, a loop isn't a problem on a circuit driving a relay but could be a huge problem at higher frequencies. I suppose you won't have much of a problem with acute angles, at 0.8mm but it gets worse as the trace becomes narrower; it's better to learn to stick to the rules than to get into bad habits.

**broken link removed**

I did PCB design as part of my apprenticeship and have experience with manufacturing defects caused by careless design.

 

[colin mac]

I've seen many real world problems caused by Sprint Layout in PCB manufacturing. I've listed a few in another thread here. It's cheap for a good reason.

 

[3v0]

I have never tried it. It may be very good at layout. Without schematic capture it is a non starter for me. I like not having to check the layout against the schematic.

 

[picbits]

I absolutely love Sprint Layout - I use it for all my PCB work inhouse.

I used to use Corel Draw but having used Sprint, I've never looked back.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

I use Sprint for all my layouts. Great program.