What is the best PCB Layout Software

[kinjalgp]

Its Express PC, lol. I guess I will horse around with Eagle a bit more and see. I tried the board command but nothing happens, just a blank board appears?

Zoom out/in a bit and see if you can see the footprints of components you laid on the schematic. If not try saving the schematic to some new location and use "switch to board" command again.

 

[Nicksan]

Zoom out/in a bit and see if you can see the footprints of components you laid on the schematic. If not try saving the schematic to some new location and use "switch to board" command again.

The components are outside the board now and it seem I can move them on the board, is that all there is to it? Thanks.

 

[kinjalgp]

The components are outside the board now and it seem I can move them on the board, is that all there is to it? Thanks.

Select single/all components and put them into the board boundary in one move.
Use your mouse roller for pan zooming.

 

[Nicksan]

Ill give that a try, Thanks for the help kinjalgp.

 

[3v0]

Placing the components and routing the signals as much art as science. It is best to finish the board and then go away for a day or two. When you come back you can often see ways to improve it.

It helps to run through a tutorial or two.

Observations:

DRC (Design Rule Check) is used to check you layout for problems. It checks for clearance between traces and pads. The default is 8 mils. It is also where you can change the restring value which determines how large you pads will be. The default is 25%. I often use 35% which provides larger pads. Some connectors will not allow you to up the restring value

There is no good reason to use 8 mil clearance if your board will allow 10 or more. I like to route the board at 8 and change it to 10 whien I am finished. DRC will show me where there are clearance problems. Where possible I fix them to achieve 10 mil clearance. The ones I can not I leave alone. Then I set the clearance back to 8 and run DRC again to make the unfixable errors go away. I now have a board with 10 mil clearance execpt in a few places where it is not possible.

The default trace width is .016. Execpt for lines that carry current (power and gnd) I like to use .012 or .010 inch traces.

Neatness counts.

 

[CadTeacher]

Having researched for class...

As a teacher and needing something that works for both Mac OS and Windows OS the best solution seems to be McCAD. Its very easy to learn and students spend more time dealing with design issues rather than trying to figure out program. They have a lite versions that are free and will work for small projects and they also have an educational series for bigger projects. So far have been very happy with the free versions.

 

[Mikebits]

dawgonnit, I just wasted 20 mins reading this thread before I realized it is 5 yrs old. Grrr.

 

[Inquisitive]

_____ off topic removed by submitter

 

[shafri]

the best? probably Altium, but expensive. i like DipTrace.