148	2006-09-13 21:16:05	Stan	what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Message	Date	From	Subject
I have downloaded FreePCB and TinyCAD and they look good at this time. Wonder what others are using? I selected FreeCAD since it will generate gerber files and the FreePCB forum had list TinyCad as a good schematic. Having a few learning problems with both, but think they will do the trick. Comments ? Oh yes the cost is Free on both of them. Stan ak0b
149	2006-09-13 22:12:45	Ramakrishnan Muth...	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
On 9/14/06, Stan <ak0b@swbell.net> wrote: > I have downloaded FreePCB and TinyCAD and they look good at this > time. Wonder what others are using? I selected FreeCAD since it will > generate gerber files and the FreePCB forum had list TinyCad as a good > schematic. > > Having a few learning problems with both, but think they will do the > trick. > > Comments ? Oh yes the cost is Free on both of them. I use "gEDA" set of tools: gschem for schematic capture, pcb for PCB design. I am still a newbie on both of them, but it is a lot of fun to use them. The good part is that they are both Free as in price and freedom and they store the files in text format, so you can use perl or whatever you like, to manipulate them. -- Ramakrishnan - VU3RDD
150	2006-09-14 06:30:00	kilocycles	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Stan and all, Free programs - I currently use EAGLE Light, but I've also begun learning DipTrace, which doesn't have board size limits, rather a 250 pin limit. As an example, the IF system of Fig. 2.68 in EMRFD had 215 pins when I CADded it in EAGLE. I was not able to get Tiny Cad and FreePCB to communicate with each other. EAGLE and DipTrace are full-featured versions of commercial products, with very extensive parts libraries. I've built my own EAGLE components library of various broadband and narrow band toroid transformers, mixers, MMICs, special ICs, special RF transistors, etc., and I currently have a slightly older version of it it in the files of the qrp-tech Yahoo Group. Also, DL4YHF has an EAGLE library of common ham components in the CADSoft.de web site. DipTrace can import EAGLE libraries with no problems that I've noted. It has a more familiar Windows user interface than EAGLE, which has a few oddities. DipTrace has over 50,000 components. One quirk with DipTrace is that you might be able to find some "generic" components, such as a 1N4148, only in certain manufacturers' libraries. The Diode library seems to consist of mostly Zeners. Both of these programs do autorouting of the PC boards, which you may want to use until you gain familiarity with the process. I highly recommend that you check out the Homebrew_PCBs Yahoo group. It's extremely active, and there is a lot of information in the archives regarding CAD programs. You can search
151	2006-09-14 07:52:21	S. Cash Olsen	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Hi group, I think this is the first post on the group, but this is a fitting subject for me to speak up about. I have been using Circad for more than ten years and still love it and it's never let me down. There is a new version and I have tried some versions of it but have not yet made to comittment to use it for everyday use. I've created thousands of parts for the libraries and that is not painless but there are techniques that keep it to a less than headache level effort. I have to create a lot of parts because I'd like to think that I'm pushing things a little, while staying off the bleeding edge. For instance I have no problem with most packages but I have not gone so fare as the BGA, yet. I'd like to try some of the little 8 ball devices just to see if they are compatible with my SMT hot air soldering techniques. I talked to one guy that has done a large BGA array and I might give it a try soon. The new version of Circad will definately handle the BGA. There are fully functional versions of Circad 98 available, www.holophase.com , they are only crippled in that they won't generate the gerber files. I have friends who have been using those versions for years on a daily basis and who uses a laser printer and make there own boards, with traces as narrow as 12 - 15 mils. Occationally they ask me to convert their files for them when they have to get boards made. I can highly recommend Circad, and I am familiar with serveral of the other products. I had to use some of those $25K / seat commercial programs at work and found that with a few exceptions I could have had the job done by the time I got the library parts made for them. So they don't necessarily have every part in the library, either. I'll try to jump in on a emrfd specific subject one of these days, but we also need tools to make our project come to life. Cash Cash Olsen Kits to build Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer http://www.zianet.com/erg Methods and supplies for SMT soldering http://www.zianet.com/erg/SMT_Soldering.html Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer website http://users4.ev1.net/%7Ewsprowls/ Yahoo Builders Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectrumanalyzer/ ----- Original Message -----
152	2006-09-14 08:30:12	Graham Haddock	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Cash: I use Eagle, which is free for making board sizes below 100mm by 80 mm. It outputs Gerbers and drill files that you can send to any board house. I personally use BatchPCB (part of SparkFun) to make my boards. For small quantities of small boards their prices including double sided solder mask and legends is less than other proto houses charge for bare boards. Their delivery is about two weeks, since their boards are fabbed in China.
153	2006-09-14 12:22:35	casholsen	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Graham and group, Each of has tools that we get used to, learn to use, intuitively feel comfortable with. The group should not get to hungup on the tools they use but it great that we have a forum for discussing what works for each of us. I taught Eagle at the community collage and never did get real comfortable with it, I didn't feel that I could finish a real project in a reasonable amount of time. I also use the software for making real world production boards and need to panelize as many as 15 designs at one time. This doesn't fit
154	2006-09-14 15:18:10	kilocycles	Re: what cad pcb and schematic do you use ?
Gang, Correcting my own post...the IF system I used was the J310 cascode IF system, Figure 6.50 on page 6.20 in EMRFD. Inexplicably, I typed "2.68", I guess because I've been studying the feedback amplifier information a lot recently. By the way, the cascode JFET IF system did fit on one single-sided board (~3"x4" rough conversion to non-metric units). Double-sided boards are doable using homebrew iron-on laser printouts, though. I currently use pages from the Harbor Freight mailed catalogs for the tranfer media, and I've had good results to at least 14 mil track widths, most recently