Newbie struggling with making edge connector

On 01/19/2016 04:59 AM, George LIVANES wrote:

Hi,

I am having trouble trying to make an edge connector in eagle.

I wish to make a PCB that plugs into a 20 pin edge connector, to make an

extender board.

The board consists of only 20 tracks with a spacing of 0.1 inches. No

components, just the tracks.

Have not been able to find anything in libraries,tried to modify other

connectors but all appear to want me

to connect to other components (other than the tracks).

I am sure this is very easy for experience Eagle users but not obvious

to a very New Newbie like me.

Thanks for your help

Regards

George

 

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Assuming you need a male end and will be adding a female to the other side.

Use smd pads to make the connector(s).

See some of the db style connectors for an example of a edge mounted

connector.

Paul R.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply.

I tried this approach, using some small round pads I found and joined them with the wire command (made them a thick wire).

However, when I went to lay out the PCB I had trouble moving some of the pads (I error checked it in the schematic). Some pads I could

move into the box and some would not.

I think that I kept the schematic in the allowable 100mm by 80mm for eagle light...Is there any way of checking if you have put schematics

correctly into the allowable area for eagle lite ?

Regards

George

On 20/01/2016 2:30 p.m., George LIVANES wrote:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply.

I tried this approach, using some small round pads I found and joined

them with the wire command (made them a thick wire).

However, when I went to lay out the PCB I had trouble moving some of the

pads (I error checked it in the schematic). Some pads I could

move into the box and some would not.

I think that I kept the schematic in the allowable 100mm by 80mm for

eagle light...Is there any way of checking if you have put schematics

correctly into the allowable area for eagle lite ?

Regards

George

Hi

Probably with a bit more information about what exactly you are

endeavouring to create we could help.

Will it be of this style

http://www.jfmeng.com/extender_board.html

If so what is the connector at the top?

Have a look at the library that comes with Eagle for ideas

con-pc.lbr

Will you be etching at home or do you need a professional board with

hard gold plating on the pins?

The Eagle size restriction only applies to the Board Editor so the board

can, at maximum, only be 100mm wide and 80mm tall.

You could build an extender, like the one pictured in the link above,

larger than 100x80 using the limited version if you approached it correctly.

So provide a lot more detail on connectors and size, single sided/

double sided. A picture of the socket you will plug into would all help.

Warren

Hi Warren,

Thanks for the help.

Yes, the extender i am trying to make looks exactly like this picture (Double sided).

The edge connector is called a "PCB card edge connector" and are a simple 2 row connector.

These extenders were very commonly used to service Tektronix and HP test equipment in the 70's.

The one i'm making will have 20pins a side (40 pins total) and the pins on the connector are spaced 3.96mm apart (0.156 inches).

I will etch the pcb at home but will not use gold plating.

Regards

George

One of the comments above struck me funny - did you use the "wire" in the

schematic or were you referring to the board layout?  When doing the

schematic, you need to use a "net" to draw the connections and not "wire"

(why you don't use a wire to wire something is beyond me, but that is the

way it is).

mikey

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Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

One of the comments above struck me funny - did you use the "wire" in the

schematic or were you referring to the board layout?  When doing the

schematic, you need to use a "net" to draw the connections and not "wire"

(why you don't use a wire to wire something is beyond me, but that is the

way it is).

mikey

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

On 22/01/2016 2:50 p.m., George LIVANES wrote:

Hi Warren,

Thanks for the help.

Yes, the extender i am trying to make looks exactly like this picture

(Double sided).

The edge connector is called a "PCB card edge connector" and are a

simple 2 row connector.

These extenders were very commonly used to service Tektronix and HP test

equipment in the 70's.

The one i'm making will have 20pins a side (40 pins total) and the pins

on the connector are spaced 3.96mm apart (0.156 inches).

I will etch the pcb at home but will not use gold plating.

Regards

George

Hi George

I too have used many of this style of extender board.

I would build this using only the board editor.

The advantage with the approach taken is that you can use Eagle Lite and

make it as big as you like because you have no element origins or smds

to keep within the limitations.

The drawing skills needed are the same whether you do the actions in the

package editor or directly to the board.

I do feel some of the skills are a little beyond novice but basic and

attainable with practice.

I had a go and have attached a board which may be close to what you end

up with.

I did not know the width you needed and that would have made it easier

to do that up front rather than get it right now.

All you need to do to get the height right is group the area at the top

and drag it to the desired height.

As you will etch at home it's all copper plus extra to cut to.

The is an outline that was established to help place the  cut-to copper

areas which are rectangles

There are some dimension on the documentation layer, turn that off

before creating you etch mask

The top and bottom are the same although this example is not symmetrical

so watch out for that.View only the top and bottom layer separately to

see that they are the same.

The traces are simply wires of two different widths

Placement and lengths is done easily by planning well and manipulating

the grid size. That way you don't have to do any maths.

From your description and a data sheet I created the edge connector

tongue. That was the trickiest part. Establish construction lines and

then trim them to  leave the step shape.

So have a go

Let us know if you get stuck

Warren

On 22/01/2016 2:50 p.m., George LIVANES wrote:

Hi Warren,

Thanks for the help.

Yes, the extender i am trying to make looks exactly like this picture

(Double sided).

The edge connector is called a "PCB card edge connector" and are a

simple 2 row connector.

These extenders were very commonly used to service Tektronix and HP test

equipment in the 70's.

The one i'm making will have 20pins a side (40 pins total) and the pins

on the connector are spaced 3.96mm apart (0.156 inches).

I will etch the pcb at home but will not use gold plating.

Regards

George

Hi George

I too have used many of this style of extender board.

I would build this using only the board editor.

The advantage with the approach taken is that you can use Eagle Lite and

make it as big as you like because you have no element origins or smds

to keep within the limitations.

The drawing skills needed are the same whether you do the actions in the

package editor or directly to the board.

I do feel some of the skills are a little beyond novice but basic and

attainable with practice.

I had a go and have attached a board which may be close to what you end

up with.

I did not know the width you needed and that would have made it easier

to do that up front rather than get it right now.

All you need to do to get the height right is group the area at the top

and drag it to the desired height.

As you will etch at home it's all copper plus extra to cut to.

The is an outline that was established to help place the  cut-to copper

areas which are rectangles

There are some dimension on the documentation layer, turn that off

before creating you etch mask

The top and bottom are the same although this example is not symmetrical

so watch out for that.View only the top and bottom layer separately to

see that they are the same.

The traces are simply wires of two different widths

Placement and lengths is done easily by planning well and manipulating

the grid size. That way you don't have to do any maths.

From your description and a data sheet I created the edge connector

tongue. That was the trickiest part. Establish construction lines and

then trim them to  leave the step shape.

So have a go

Let us know if you get stuck

Warren

On 23/01/16 02:26, Mike Fields wrote:

(why you don't use a wire to wire something is beyond me, but that is the

way it is).

Because in the schematic you are not "wiring up", you are defining the

nets that you will later "wire up" on the board. The lines on the

schematic don't represent wires but connections - which could be

realised in a variety of ways that don't necessarily look like the

schematic.

On 23/01/16 02:26, Mike Fields wrote:

(why you don't use a wire to wire something is beyond me, but that is the

way it is).

Because in the schematic you are not "wiring up", you are defining the

nets that you will later "wire up" on the board. The lines on the

schematic don't represent wires but connections - which could be

realised in a variety of ways that don't necessarily look like the

schematic.