PCB Design Tutorial for Eagle

This is a PCB design tutorial that I designed as a simple way to learn how to create a PCB layout in Cadsoft Eagle. What we need:

• A computer with any version of Cadsoft Eagle installed
• A schematic diagram (Schematic Drawing Tutorial)

(If you want to use the same schematic as used in this PCB tutorial you can download the schematic here. You can also find three simple electronic circuits with schematics, board layout and Gerber files here.)

Create Board From Schematic

We start by opening our schematic diagram in Eagle. Click on the “Board” button (or choose “Switch to board” from the “File” menu) to create a board for this schematic.You can also use the command line for selecting commands.

If no board exists, we will get a warning asking us to create a new board. Choose “Yes”. A new board will be created with all the components from the schematics.

Place Components

We choose the “Move” action from the toolbar (or the “Edit” menu) to place the components on our board. A good way to arrange our components is to place them similar to the placement in the schematics. This makes it much easier to troubleshoot the circuit at a later stage if needed.
Click on “Rastnest” from the “Tools” menu to update the yellow airwires.

Start Routing

Alright, now the routing fun begins
Routing can be done manually or automatic. Here I will explain how to do it manually. You can also read about how to use Eagle’s autoroute function.
Choose “Route” from the toolbar (or from the “Edit” menu). Select 12 mil trace width and 24 mill drill size.
A rule-of-thumb is to use wide traces for nets that draw a lot of current, for example your power lines. For other nets, we can use thinner traces. In this example, not much current is drawn by the circuit, so we just choose some default values.

We start routing by clicking on one of the yellow airwires. A trace appears with a color corresponding to the current routing layer. Now we use our left mouse button to route the wire to where the airwire points us.

If we want to change the routing layer, we simply click the middle mouse button or use the layer selector on the toolbar. A good rule-of-thumb for a two-layer board is to route only horizontally on one layer and only vertically on the other. But this is not necessary for such a simple board as ours.
Learn more about PCB design guidelines.
To simplify routing, a ground plane can be added.

Run ERC and DRC To Check For Errors

When we are finished routing the PCB, we should always run ERC and DRC from the “Tools” menu to look for errors. Fix any errors if present.
When there are no more errors, we have finished the PCB design tutorial. Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back! Now we are ready to create gerber files that we can send to a manufacturer for fabrication.

The Next Step After This PCB Design Tutorial

PCB Design is extremely useful to know. It’s what will take you from knowing how to build simple circuits to being able to build advanced stuff like LCD screens, Quadcopters, etc. I have personally put together an eCourse that will teach you everything you need to know, step-by-step.

Reference: http://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/pcb-design-tutorial

PCB Price Comparison

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 Reference: http://pcbshopper.com/

How to export gerber files from eagle for pcb production at youpcb.com

What is the purpose of this tutorial?

Well, as title, if you have created your own PCB layout with eagle PCB (http://www.cadsoftusa.com/), the next step is to produce prototype PCBs from the layout.
There are many PCB layout softwares, such as Altium Designer, OrCAD, KiCad, PowerPCB etc. Eagle PCB is one of them. The best thing about eagle is, it has a free version, you can use it for any boards smaller than 100x80mm, which is good enough for small boards. (eagle PCB do have limitations on the free version, please check it our from eagle's website).
PCB manufactures do not usually support all the PCB layout files from these software, however, they do support the standard gerber file format. It doesn't matter how you create the PCB layout, as long as you can export gerber files from your layout, the board can be produced by any manufacture, including youpcb.com.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to export gerber files from your eagle brd file, so that you can send it to youpcb.com for manufacture.

Softwares needed

You only need one software: eagle PCB. Download from here: download eagle PCB free version
You also need winzip or winrar, you probably already have it installed. If not: winzip or winrar
You also need Eagle design rule file: 8mils.dru, download it from here 8mils.dru

Export Gerber files from eagle

Design rule check

Make sure you run design rule check (DRC) before you generate Gerber files. DRC usually makes sure that your board doesn’t exceed the manufacturer’s production abilities.
Download this file: 8mils.dru and copy it to your eagle's DRU directory, for example: C:\Program Files (x86)\EAGLE-6.1.0\dru
Start eagle PCB software, load your brd file, then select Tools -> DRC..:

Then, clock Load.. button to load our custom DRU file:

Select the DRU file you downloaded from us and click open:

The wizard will load our DRU, then click Check button:

Make sure there are no errors. If there are errors, you need to fix them before you can continue to generate gerber files.

Generate Drill Rack file

Select Run from File menu:

In the pop up dialog, select drillcfg.ulp from the list and click Open:

Then select Inch and click OK:

Don't change anything and click OK:

Click Save:

Now you have the drill configuration file created.

Generate Excellon drill files

Select File -> Cam Processor... from the menu:

Click File -> Open -> Job...:

Select Excellon.ulp, and click open:

Click process Job:

The file will be created instantly. Close the window by clicking the 'x' icon on the right too corner:

Generate gerber files

Select File -> Cam Processor... from the menu:

Click File -> Open -> Job...:

Select Gerb274x.ulp, and click open:

Now this is important, make sure "Mirror" is unchecked on all tabs, then click "Process Job...":

It may take a couple seconds to generate all files, once it is done, close the dialog:

Zip up generated files and send to youpcb.com

Now open windows explorer, zip up the generated gerber files as rar or zip format, then send to youpcb.com for manufacturing. Before you send it, you may want to upload the zip file to online gerber viewer website and see if they are correct.
These are the files:

• *.drl Drill rack data
• *.drd Excellon drill description
• *.dri Excellon drill tool description
• *.cmp Component side data
• *.sol Solder side data
• *.plc Component side silk screen data
• *.stc Component side solder stop mask data
• *.sts Solder side solder stop mask data
• *.gpi Gerber photoplotter information data