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December 2015

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From:
John Parsons <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, John Parsons <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 4 Dec 2015 18:01:27 +0000
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Steve,

Most fabrication software these days does a pretty good job of .DXF to Gerber conversion so if your design is simple enough and you have access to and the skills to generate a design in Autocad or similar then this may also be an option for you.

Design rules can be found here http://www.artwork.com/acad/pcb_app/pcb.htm

Regards,
John Parsons

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nutting, Phil
Sent: December-04-15 9:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Process guy looking to start trying to do board layout...

Steve,

For some test box boards, low run of 3 or 4, we have used ExpressPCP and their free software.  www.expresspcb.com

I don't know how complicated the ExpressPCB software can go, but it will certainly work for what you are doing.

The price is very favorable.  I'm told the learning curve is not steep.

Our production stuff we do in PADs.  Hey, it is what we have used for ever.

Regards,

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Gregory
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2015 12:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Process guy looking to start trying to do board layout...

Hi All,

Many of you know me, and know that most of my career has been a hands-on, out on the production floor kind of process guy , but now I'm looking at trying to do board layout.

Yeah, yeah I know, forget about it. But I'm not looking to do anything complicated, it's a small 1" X 2.85", 2-layer board with 3-LED's, a through-hole right angle push button switch, 5-holes that a little wire harness can be soldered into, and two mounting holes.

I've often thought about learning more about board design and layout, but my plate always fills up with the day-to-day production and process issues so I wind up pushing that off to the back burner and don't think about it again for a while. So now the idea has popped up again. The story is that we build this little board for a customer and now they want to change the size and layout and use a different switch. So my boss asks me if this is something I can do, we don't have any design guys here. I have Pentalogix ViewMate Deluxe and do gerber edits to apertures in the solder paste layers for the stencils I buy, but don't really change the layout of boards, ViewMate is not meant for that. I explain that to him and he asks if he bought the software would this be something that I would be interested in doing, so now the opportunity has presented itself again.

So I've been looking around and I'm not looking the buy a seat at a full-blown CAD station, just something inexpensive and simple to use. So I've been looking at Eagle, and my question is, have any of you used this?
Is this software a good starting point for a rookie like me? I know there is an IPC Designers Council forum, but those guys are so far ahead of me that I don't want to waste their time. Any feedback is welcome.

Steve

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