I just started to use CadSoft Eagle PCB Design Tool. I am using the light version which is free and is very powerful. I have noticed that a lot of builders use it for schematics and PCB layouts and I decided to give it a shot. Well, its defiantly not something you can figure out just by messing around with the interface… I feel like when I was learning Adobe Photoshop 2.0 for the first time. Once you figure out what tools are for what its not to bad and it starts to click together. So I got a schematic done and I like how it turned out, I picked a basic Bazz Fuss to try since its minimal and easy to keep track of the parts.
As you can see its nothing special but it works well and really beats looking at my chicken scratches on paper.
Now comes the real “art” of all this.. layout. I can now appreciate more the designers of PCBs and the thought and actions that need to take place to make a great working/looking pedal. Eagle has a autoroute function that is not the best and should never be relied on for finished results (from what I have read everywhere online) but its a great starting point to help you layout your PCB and see what works out. Here is what I came up with for the Bazz Fuss above.
So here are my problems right off the bat…
- I have traces that run under components that really do not need to.
- My traces are way to thin for a clean toner transfer.
- Can you find more issues? (really… Im clueless with this stuff)