Hey guys, I'm making a circuit as a learning experience....its a LED flasher circuit. The schematic is on this site: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bill_Bowden/page5.htm I usually just make my circuits on breadboard, but now I want to make an actual PCB of my own. I bought the pcb, the etchant solution etc..however, I was wondering if there's a "free" way of getting my schematic into a layout form. I tried using PCB123 and other programs, but none are really free. PCB123 let me do it for free, but it limits the board size. Is there a program that's really free that can take schematics and turn them into layouts? As a newbie, I find it hard sometimes to turn schematics into layouts. I also have student copies of PSpice and B2Spice, does anyone know if these copies can do this task as well?
I like CADSoft Eagle. Google to download it, The free version limits the board size too, but it's quite sufficent for many hobbiest projects. Here's an example of a PCB design i did with it:
i like Circad98 from holophase... lacks in features, but i dont get on well with eagle.. i find it restricting, maby if i learnt it a bit more i would get on better, but i cant cope with its PCB layout part wanting to know what every component is... circad gives a nice grid representing 2.5mm holes (like veroboard) so its easy to work a layout.
I'm praying that's an autolayout... Because there are so many things that should have been changed that it's not even funny. You really ought to be more careful when laying out a board.
i can only see a few things, like tracks runing too close to stuff. i tend to make tracks as big as i can get away with and i fill all spare areas with polygon shapes.
The thing that bothered me was all the pointless vias. Almost every via could be elmininated without increasing trace length at all.
There is no program that I am aware of that will make a good layout. The whole electronics industry either still does it by hand or uses an autorouter to start with then tidy up by hand.
