Off Board Parts

Hi Dave

I assume that by 'offboard connections' you are referring to inputs such as pots/pedals etc?

If you could upload a pic of the particular part/s you are having problems with then I may be able to help.

I use Molex connectors myself to make offbaord connections to speakers,power,sensors etc. I find that they are cheap, I can solder them easily, and they are quite tough.

If I am on the right lines let me know and I will help with more detail.

Regards

David

"Without the ability to make off board connections I will have to find software that can handle them."


"I use Molex connectors myself to make offbaord connections to speakers,power,sensors etc. I find that they are cheap, I can solder them easily, and they are quite tough."

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!! What a brilllliant idea!(Yeah, I feel like a dolt now)
Yeah, just need to do pots, switches etc..

I've been doing this stuff by hand hand for so long when I finally got behind a computer I kind of lost my mind..

Thank You Very MUCH

Dave

Op Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:33:23 +0200 schreef Dave Cader 

<noreply-99913@element14.com>:

"Without the ability to make off board connections I will have to find 

software that can handle them."

 

>

"I use Molex connectors myself to make offbaord connections to 

speakers,power,sensors etc. I find that they are cheap, I can solder 

them easily, and they are quite tough."

 

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!! What a brilllliant idea!(Yeah, I 

feel like a dolt now)

Yeah, just need to do pots, switches etc..

I've been doing this stuff by hand hand for so long when I finally got 

behind a computer I kind of lost my mind..

 

Thank You Very MUCH

Dave

 

Hello Dave,

Even with the above solution you'll probably want to put the "off-board" 

parts in the schematic for documentation / clarification purposes.

Andreas Weidner wrote a great ULP for that. With it you can take any 

component from any Eagle library and 'explode' it, meaning that the 

schematic symbol will be transformed into just lines on a documentation 

layer and the PCB package will be removed. So you can add the parts that 

are not on the board which makes reading the schematic a lot easier.

You can find the ULP from the 'downloads' section on the Cadsoft website.

Richard

Hi Jorge, and thanks once again for your on-point and crucially useful reply.

I don't know whether to say "Yay" or "ARRRRGGGG!". I guess this feature sneaked in for version 6.2. And though it is documented in both the manual and the in-app Help, it's a bit hard to find unless you know that it's called "External".

Quick note for others: the actual attribute name is the word EXTERNAL with underscore before and after. (Can't show that in this forum, because it's the markup for underscoring the enclosed word -- or maybe there's special additional markup to show it.)

Now, the manual blurb on this (section 8.7 "External Devices without Packages") says: "This attribute [EXTERNAL] has to be created in the library; creating the attribute in the schematic won't work!" The new library device must have only symbol(s), and no package(s).

So actually, the salient thing is to create a library Device that has no Packages; the role of the EXTERNAL "flag" is simply to permit that Device to be used on a schematic, where normally device-without-package is an error.

I guess implementing that was easier than the more user-friendly idea of changing Eagle PCB to ignore schematic Devices with EXTERNAL set on the schematic -- which would have avoided the run-around of having to proliferate new library Devices (in same library? In a new library?) just to get the off-board effect.

Regardless, this is a better-workaround than previous workarounds. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

-- Graham

Hi Jorge, and thanks once again for your on-point and crucially useful reply.

I don't know whether to say "Yay" or "ARRRRGGGG!". I guess this feature sneaked in for version 6.2. And though it is documented in both the manual and the in-app Help, it's a bit hard to find unless you know that it's called "External".

Quick note for others: the actual attribute name is the word EXTERNAL with underscore before and after. (Can't show that in this forum, because it's the markup for underscoring the enclosed word -- or maybe there's special additional markup to show it.)

Now, the manual blurb on this (section 8.7 "External Devices without Packages") says: "This attribute [EXTERNAL] has to be created in the library; creating the attribute in the schematic won't work!" The new library device must have only symbol(s), and no package(s).

So actually, the salient thing is to create a library Device that has no Packages; the role of the EXTERNAL "flag" is simply to permit that Device to be used on a schematic, where normally device-without-package is an error.

I guess implementing that was easier than the more user-friendly idea of changing Eagle PCB to ignore schematic Devices with EXTERNAL set on the schematic -- which would have avoided the run-around of having to proliferate new library Devices (in same library? In a new library?) just to get the off-board effect.

Regardless, this is a better-workaround than previous workarounds. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

-- Graham