Pads

On 10/18/2009 11:40 AM, martin grove wrote:

Hi again,

Sorry for the newbie question but I'm really at my wit's end.

I would like to change the diameter of the pads to the passive components on

the already routed board image but the CHANGE command won't let me, even if

the Pads layer is active. All I get is a rude noise, even while the status

bar tells me to left-click on the component I want to change.

Also, it would make my life a lot easier if I could duplicate a section of

the board elsewhere on the same board without having to do it in the

schematic editor. Imagine 2 channels of a stereo system placed side by side

with interconnecting circuitry routed manually. This would look neater, not

to mention making trouble-shooting a lot easier on the actual physical

hardware.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin

 

 

 

Yeah, that got me too when I first started with Eagle. To change the

pads, you have to open the library and edit the package for that part in

the library.

1. To figure out what library the part is in, click Info (the i button)

and then click the part. It will tell you the Library name and the

package name in that library.

2. Find the Library in the Control Panel under Libraries, then

double-click the library name (not a component or the package) to open

the Library.

3. Now click Library->Package from the Library's menubar. Select the

package name you got from step 1. Now use Change->Drill or

Change->Diameter or Change->Shape on the pads.

4. Once done, save the library, and go back to the board window. Now

click Library on the board's menubar, and then click update all. Viola!

I recommend you start creating your own libraries of updated parts. This

will prevent you from overwriting your changes when you update eagle.

Once you have created a new lib file, you can open the lib and then copy

parts from eagle's lib to the open one, which simplifies the whole process.

As for the 2nd part: you can, but it's not intuitive. First, finish with

your schematic and board. THen copy the board file, and open the copied

file in eagle. Now do a group and cut and paste to copy the entire

layout to another section of the board. Now manually run needed tracks

between the two.

Travis

Thak you very much! Both work very well.

I also found this:

http://gaussmarkov.net/eagle/padsize.html

It also works across the board.

M

"Travis G" <fightspammers@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:hbgm8e$ueq$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

On 10/18/2009 11:40 AM, martin grove wrote:

Hi again,

Sorry for the newbie question but I'm really at my wit's end.

I would like to change the diameter of the pads to the passive components

on

the already routed board image but the CHANGE command won't let me, even

if

the Pads layer is active. All I get is a rude noise, even while the

status

bar tells me to left-click on the component I want to change.

Also, it would make my life a lot easier if I could duplicate a section

of

the board elsewhere on the same board without having to do it in the

schematic editor. Imagine 2 channels of a stereo system placed side by

side

with interconnecting circuitry routed manually. This would look neater,

not

to mention making trouble-shooting a lot easier on the actual physical

hardware.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin

 

 

 

Yeah, that got me too when I first started with Eagle. To change the pads,

you have to open the library and edit the package for that part in the

library.

1. To figure out what library the part is in, click Info (the i button)

and then click the part. It will tell you the Library name and the package

name in that library.

2. Find the Library in the Control Panel under Libraries, then

double-click the library name (not a component or the package) to open the

Library.

3. Now click Library->Package from the Library's menubar. Select the

package name you got from step 1. Now use Change->Drill or

Change->Diameter or Change->Shape on the pads.

4. Once done, save the library, and go back to the board window. Now click

Library on the board's menubar, and then click update all. Viola!

 

I recommend you start creating your own libraries of updated parts. This

will prevent you from overwriting your changes when you update eagle. Once

you have created a new lib file, you can open the lib and then copy parts

from eagle's lib to the open one, which simplifies the whole process.

 

 

As for the 2nd part: you can, but it's not intuitive. First, finish with

your schematic and board. THen copy the board file, and open the copied

file in eagle. Now do a group and cut and paste to copy the entire layout

to another section of the board. Now manually run needed tracks between

the two.

 

Travis

Cadsoft,

The inability to easily modify pads without digging through libraries in

this program drives me nuts! I've used several programs that are much

shorter and easier. It's why I didn't buy the pro version.

Please fix it!

Thanks,

Rob

"martin grove" <margrove.delete.the.obvious@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:gvSdnTwyy-rQ90HXnZ2dnUVZ8uudnZ2d@pipex.net...

Thak you very much! Both work very well.

I also found this:

 

http://gaussmarkov.net/eagle/padsize.html

 

It also works across the board.

M

 

"Travis G" <fightspammers@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:hbgm8e$ueq$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

On 10/18/2009 11:40 AM, martin grove wrote:

Hi again,

Sorry for the newbie question but I'm really at my wit's end.

I would like to change the diameter of the pads to the passive

components on

the already routed board image but the CHANGE command won't let me, even

if

the Pads layer is active. All I get is a rude noise, even while the

status

bar tells me to left-click on the component I want to change.

Also, it would make my life a lot easier if I could duplicate a section

of

the board elsewhere on the same board without having to do it in the

schematic editor. Imagine 2 channels of a stereo system placed side by

side

with interconnecting circuitry routed manually. This would look neater,

not

to mention making trouble-shooting a lot easier on the actual physical

hardware.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin

 

 

 

Yeah, that got me too when I first started with Eagle. To change the

pads, you have to open the library and edit the package for that part in

the library.

1. To figure out what library the part is in, click Info (the i button)

and then click the part. It will tell you the Library name and the

package name in that library.

2. Find the Library in the Control Panel under Libraries, then

double-click the library name (not a component or the package) to open

the Library.

3. Now click Library->Package from the Library's menubar. Select the

package name you got from step 1. Now use Change->Drill or

Change->Diameter or Change->Shape on the pads.

4. Once done, save the library, and go back to the board window. Now

click Library on the board's menubar, and then click update all. Viola!

 

I recommend you start creating your own libraries of updated parts. This

will prevent you from overwriting your changes when you update eagle.

Once you have created a new lib file, you can open the lib and then copy

parts from eagle's lib to the open one, which simplifies the whole

process.

 

 

As for the 2nd part: you can, but it's not intuitive. First, finish with

your schematic and board. THen copy the board file, and open the copied

file in eagle. Now do a group and cut and paste to copy the entire layout

to another section of the board. Now manually run needed tracks between

the two.

 

Travis

On 10/20/2009 4:01 PM, Rob wrote:

Cadsoft,

The inability to easily modify pads without digging through libraries in

this program drives me nuts! I've used several programs that are much

shorter and easier. It's why I didn't buy the pro version.

Please fix it!

Thanks,

Rob

I would have to disagree. I'm actually glad you can't, because it forced

me to learn to use the libraries... That one little thing pushed me into

learning how to effectively utilize the libs when I was a new to PCB

layout     ...I did buy the Pro license...

My 2 cents,

Travis

Rob schrieb:

Cadsoft,

The inability to easily modify pads without digging through libraries in

this program drives me nuts! I've used several programs that are much

shorter and easier. It's why I didn't buy the pro version.

Please fix it!

Sorry, that's nonsense. Doing PCB layouts is more than sketching

something with Paint. Please keep the whole PCB production process in

mind, and understand that (correct) libraries serve you best for

generating working production data.

(BTW, that's why I only use my own self-defined libraries...)

If you don't like it this way, feel free to use any other software.

Tilmann

Tilmann Reh wrote:

Rob schrieb:

The inability to easily modify pads without digging through libraries in

this program drives me nuts! I've used several programs that are much

shorter and easier. It's why I didn't buy the pro version.

Please fix it!

 

Sorry, that's nonsense. Doing PCB layouts is more than sketching

something with Paint. Please keep the whole PCB production process in

mind, and understand that (correct) libraries serve you best for

generating working production data.

Well, the OP does have a bit of a point. There are times when you just

want to make the pads of this one device just 1 mil smaller, and it's

not a production board, just a one-off prototype, etc. Having to go into

your library, make another package variant, call it something meaningful

so you'll remember what you did and why, go back and update the library,

then change the package....that's a lot of effort for something that

sounds like it should be simple.

I don't believe it is a tool's responsibility to enforce a particular

workflow so that customers have to do things "the right way". I believe

a tool should allow customers to work the way they want to work.

Andrew.

Travis,

What you are "learning" is how to work around limitations. . You could just

as easily be learning how to reduce a single pad.  All programs have

limitations and little anomolies.

Tillman,

It's not just painting. Other programs have the option. EWB,Orcad, etc.You

are not changing libraries, you are simply modifying a part on a specific

board.

I have production runs of pro boards that I have done this on and my board

house asked me if they could use me as a reference for people who need PCBs

generated.

Here's a an example when it is beneficial:

Let's say we have a DIL16 package on a board and we want to bring a trace

between two unused pins BUT we want the trace to be wider for current

reasons than the original pad sizes allow for DRC. If we have the ability to

reduce the size of just those two unused pads we can bring the trace through

without shrinking it and can save money by not havingto go to  2oz. copper.

It's not about using another program (I do by the way use several). It's

about a good program (Eagle) becoming a better program. It's how a program

gets better. And by the way, I gave this to Eagle a while ago and they said

they would incorporate it into future programs but never did. Perhaps it is

in the books.

Rob

"Andrew Sterian" <steriana@gvsu.edu> wrote in message

news:hbn0kf$tco$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

Tilmann Reh wrote:

Rob schrieb:

The inability to easily modify pads without digging through libraries in

this program drives me nuts! I've used several programs that are much

shorter and easier. It's why I didn't buy the pro version.

Please fix it!

 

Sorry, that's nonsense. Doing PCB layouts is more than sketching

something with Paint. Please keep the whole PCB production process in

mind, and understand that (correct) libraries serve you best for

generating working production data.

 

Well, the OP does have a bit of a point. There are times when you just

want to make the pads of this one device just 1 mil smaller, and it's not

a production board, just a one-off prototype, etc. Having to go into your

library, make another package variant, call it something meaningful so

you'll remember what you did and why, go back and update the library, then

change the package....that's a lot of effort for something that sounds

like it should be simple.

 

I don't believe it is a tool's responsibility to enforce a particular

workflow so that customers have to do things "the right way". I believe a

tool should allow customers to work the way they want to work.

 

Andrew.

On 10/21/2009 9:35 AM, Rob wrote:

Travis,

What you are "learning" is how to work around limitations. . You could just

as easily be learning how to reduce a single pad.  All programs have

limitations and little anomolies.

 

While I will admit to what Andrew said, I otherwise disagree with your

point of view here. Learning to edit the lib taught me, at a very early

stage, that I needed to build my own libs and organize the parts I use

so my workflow will be optimal. It takes me MUCH less time to generate a

board and order parts for a production assembly run now that I have my

own libs with my own often-used parts.

The option to change pads in the board, I'll grant, could be useful in

particular cases where you only need 1 or 2 pads changed, and only for

that board. But I wouldn't want the program to allow it without warning

users they should edit the library if it's a change they may want for

other boards.

So I'd agree to the change, but only if, on a per-board basis, you had

to agree to a messagebox that told you something similar to:

"You are about to edit a part's package. This should be done by editing

the package in the Library, unless this is a change that is specific to

this board layout and you will never need again. Otherwise, please

proceed to the library editor to edit this package. Do you still want to

edit the package?"

Travis

I don't see what all the fuss is about. If you can resize the pads across

the board in the "Restring" option of  DRC, what is so sacrilegeous about

changing just one pad?

I think vendors should value input from their customers.

M

"Travis G" <fightspammers@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:hbn47o$d58$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

On 10/21/2009 9:35 AM, Rob wrote:

Travis,

What you are "learning" is how to work around limitations. . You could

just

as easily be learning how to reduce a single pad.  All programs have

limitations and little anomolies.

 

 

While I will admit to what Andrew said, I otherwise disagree with your

point of view here. Learning to edit the lib taught me, at a very early

stage, that I needed to build my own libs and organize the parts I use so

my workflow will be optimal. It takes me MUCH less time to generate a

board and order parts for a production assembly run now that I have my own

libs with my own often-used parts.

 

The option to change pads in the board, I'll grant, could be useful in

particular cases where you only need 1 or 2 pads changed, and only for

that board. But I wouldn't want the program to allow it without warning

users they should edit the library if it's a change they may want for

other boards.

 

So I'd agree to the change, but only if, on a per-board basis, you had to

agree to a messagebox that told you something similar to:

"You are about to edit a part's package. This should be done by editing

the package in the Library, unless this is a change that is specific to

this board layout and you will never need again. Otherwise, please proceed

to the library editor to edit this package. Do you still want to edit the

package?"

 

Travis

On 21.10.2009 20:21, martin grove wrote:

I don't see what all the fuss is about. If you can resize the pads across

the board in the "Restring" option of  DRC, what is so sacrilegeous about

changing just one pad?

I think vendors should value input from their customers.

Please, guys, let's not let this thread escalate

With the new envisioned datastructure of version 6 we plan

to make it possible to overwrite pad data like shape or diameter

on a per pad basis in the board. We are also thinking about

implementing a way of "cutting off" edges from pads, as shown

in the attached image (which is a fake - this feature is not yet

implemented ;-).

Klaus Schmidinger

--

_______________________________________________________________

Klaus Schmidinger                       Phone: +49-8635-6989-10

CadSoft Computer GmbH                   Fax:   +49-8635-6989-40

Pleidolfweg 15                          Email:   kls@cadsoft.de

D-84568 Pleiskirchen, Germany           URL:     www.cadsoft.de

_______________________________________________________________

Attachments: