Cadsoft Eagle is a multi-platform freeware circuit layout program. lots of open source hardware is developed in Eagle, and it’s become a hobbyist favorite. We use it for all of our hardware designs.

There are several ways to turn an Eagle design into an actual printed circuit board (PCB). We’ll show you how to save Eagle designs as industry-standard gerber files that are accepted by any PCB manufacturer. You can use the gerbers to purchase a single prototype, or a full panel.

Introducción

Toner transfer is the beginners’ favorite way to make a PCB because the investment in materials is minimal. We’ve covered toner transfer before. many PCBs in our how-tos are made with the photo-resist process.  The photo process makes good boards, but requires a bit of equipment; sensitized boards, developer, and an ultra-violet light source.

Some board manufacturers, like Olimex, make PCBs directly from Eagle .brd files. many require a minimum purchase of one eurocard-sized PCB (100mmx160mm). good if you need a few boards, expensive for a single experimental prototype.

The most affordable option is to submit gerber files like the professionals. any PCB producer will accept gerber formatted design files. Gold Pheonix sells 155square inches of PCB panel for $110. If you’re searching for something smaller, services like BatchPCB and PCB-Pool combine small orders and submit them as a full panel. Either way, you’ll submit gerber files to the board house. This is the process we describe.

Vista general del proceso

Prepare the design.

Create gerbers, generic files accepted by any PCB fab house.

Verify that the gerbers are correct.

Send the design for production.

Prepare the design

We’re going to walk you through the process of preparing our digital picture frame PCB for production. This design requires a double-sided board with fairly small traces.

Download the project archive (ZIP) from last week. open the .brd file with the freeware version of Cadsoft Eagle.

The ground fill is empty when the file opens. press the ratsnest button (or Tools->Ratsnest) to fill in the empty polygons.

Board producers publish specifications outlining their production capabilities, such as the smallest possible traces, spacing, and drill size. BatchPCB has 8mil minimum traces and spacing, and 20mil minimum holes.

Don’t torture the manufacturer. just because they advertise 8mils, doesn’t imply it’s safe to make every trace 8mils. slightly larger-than-minimum tolerances will decrease manufacturing errors. The digital picture frame has 8mil traces around the tiny LCD connector, shown above. The traces are 8mils only until there’s enough clearance to use 10mil traces.

Use Eagle’s design guideline check to make sure your board doesn’t exceed the manufacturer’s production abilities. download the SparkFun design guidelines (DRU) for BatchPCB, or the Olimex 8mil (DRU) or 10mil (DRU) design rules.  Click the DRC icon (or, Tools->DRC) and load the design guideline file. Eagle analyzes the design and highlights any areas that break the design guideline parameters.

Correct any errors. Here, the spacing between traces is too close. in some cases the spacing on a part footprint is too small to be manufactured. Sparkfun’s default footprint for the  Nokia LCD connector had pad spacing less than 8mils. We edited the part library to make the pads smaller, and the separation larger.

It’s valuable to include part numbers on the printed silkscreen layer. BatchPCB prints a silkscreen on both sides. Be sure to see what your board house offers, some charge extra. use the smash tool to unlink obscured labels, then relocation them to a better location.

Create gerber files

Gerber files are the PDFs of PCBs. Gerber files describe a PCB exactly as it ought to appear, agnostic of the display hardware. It’s a final production format that isn’t intended to be edited. We created our gerber files in Eagle using the procedure described in SparkFun’s Eagle tutorial.

The Eagle CAM processor writes gerber files, open it from the menu under File->CAM processor.

SparkFun has a script (CAM) that configures the CAM processor to make gerber files. load the CAM script using File->Open->Job…

By default, SparkFun’s silkscreen configuration only includes the place layer. Our parts typically have labels on the names and docu layers, activate these layers on the top and bottom silkscreen tabs to add them to the output.

Click process job to create the gerber files.

The CAM processor creates seven files that we need.

Top and bottom copper (.GTL, .GBL)

Top and bottom solder mask (.GTS, .GBS)

Top and bottom silkscreen (.GTO, .GBO)

Drill file, 2.4 leading (.TXT)

Verify that the gerbers are correct

Verify the CAM output in a gerber audience to make sure everything was positioned correctly. We followed SparkFun’s idea and used Viewplot.

Load the seven files with Viewplot. Be sure to specify the drill file type as 2.4 leading.Compruebe si hay vías errantes, capas reflejadas y alineación. Hemos descubierto que el texto agregado a la capa de serigrafía suele ser más grande de lo que estaba en Eagle. apropiarse de cualquier problema y ejecutar el procesador de leva de nuevo.

Cuando todo se ve bien, la placa está lista para la producción.

Enviar el diseño para la producción.

Zip los siete archivos gerbers y envíalos a la casa fabulosa PCB. Recuerde decirles que el formato de archivo de perforación es de 2.4 líder.

BATCHPCB es un servicio de paneles agrupados que vende espacio por la pulgada cuadrada. Otros productores y servicios por lotes requieren que compre al menos una Eurocard completa. Utilizamos BATCHPCB para prototipos porque nunca necesitamos el espacio de la tabla adicional de un Eurocard completo, y no nos importa que la espera promedio de 20 días.

En BatchPCB, $ 2.50 / pulgada cuadrada compra una PCB con serigrafía en ambos lados, vías ilimitadas y una gama sustancial de tamaños de perforación; Cosas que normalmente cuesta extra. Las huellas, espaciamiento y taladro mínimo de BatchPCB son similares a otros servicios de prototipos. Hay una tarifa de instalación de $ 10 por compra, pero una compra puede incluir múltiples diseños. El envío, incluso internacional, no es indignante.

Si necesitas una gran cantidad de la misma tabla, mira el oro Phoenix. Fabrican tablas para BATCHPCB. Un panel de 100 pulgadas cuadradas es de $ 100, un panel de 155 pulgadas cuadradas es de $ 110.

Crear una cuenta en BATCHPCB. Haga clic en Enviar para agregar un nuevo diseño. Nombra el diseño y envíe el archivo ZIP, incluidos los 7 archivos Gerber.

Verifique que las capas Gerber se detectaron con éxito.

Verifique que se detecte el tamaño apropiado.

La guía de BATCHPCB Verificar ‘Robot’ verificará que su diseño cumple con los estándares de producción y envíe un correo electrónico en unos minutos. Debido a que corrimos nuestra propia guía de guía antes de enviar el diseño, podemos esperar que todo esté bien. Haga clic en Continuar y tendrá la opción de comprar la Junta. Para una mayor ayuda, consulte el foro de ayuda y soporte de BATCHPCB.

Recibe tus tablas

Los tableros llegan desde BatchPCB en unos 20 días. Compruebe las juntas para errores aparentes antes de soldar. Algunos productores prueban PCB, BATCHPCB no. Hemos comprado PCB de dos de las casas populares de la junta aficionada, Olimex y BatchPCB, y todas las juntas han sido satisfactorias.

Tomándolo más

Es fácil comprar PCBs profesionales utilizando archivos Gerber. ¿Por qué no construir ese increíble proyecto de bricolaje que has estado saliendo?

¿Cuál ha sido tu experiencia con las casas fabulosas de PCB?

Actualización: ¡Los archivos se han movido! Encuéntralos aquí.