new user help please

At my employer, we frequently have to input new footprints, then verify that they're correct.  I presume you have a printer of some sort available -- laser or inkjet, most will work.

Draw up a new schematic with just the part in question.  Flip over to looking at the board, and establish the size of the board very precisely (in both X and Y directions), selecting a size that will fit on a sheet of paper for your printer.  Place the part on the board, don't worry about air wires.

Under the File menu, click on "Print setup..." and make sure that "Scale factor" and "Calibrate" are all 1, and adjust the other items as you like.  Now use Print to get it out to paper.

Grab the most precise measuring device you have, and measure the printed board size and compare to the size you specified.  You may need to adjust the Calibrate settings and reprint.  Once you have an accurately sized print, compare it to the physical device.  We have a microscope in our lab, and I usually use that (then again, I'm sometimes working with pin spacings of 0.65mm center-to-center), but for something like a D plug you mention, a magnifying glass is probably sufficient.  (Or, if you're near-sighted like I am, just take off your glasses!)

stephen clarke wrote:

>I am new to using Eagle and still getting my head round it.

>How do i check a foot print in a library ? as i wish to check that the diamensions are correct for my part.

>I want to check the 9 pin D plug and socket in Tyco

open the library in the library editor, then call up the relevant

package (via the IC symbol).

Now you can examine all package elements using the show command.

--

Lorenz

You can select the package you need to check in the requested library and use the cursor position to measure what you need. To do that the grid dimension can be changed as required by the precision level you need. Also the "Mark" function can help in this operation.

I hope this can help you. 

I'll agree that using the cursor position will work, but for complex devices it gets tedious.  I prefer to calibrate the printer and compare a  piece of paper to an actual part.  True, with 0.065 center-to-center pin spacing, the pads get a bit "blurred", but it's useful to look at the over-all on these.

Even without a micrometer and a microscope, you can get a "reasonable approximation" of calibrating the printer by using a $2 ruler and a magnifying glass.  And without a microscope, you probably aren't doing the really tiny parts anyway, so being off 0.1mm isn't a big deal in that situation.

Clark

Hi,

for better resolution without blurring try negative printing. This is widely

used in the industry for making films for pcb-manufacturing.

r

Hi,

I think the better thing is find the right solution for our needs so for my point of view is faster and may be also more accurate to use the cursor and related position; different needs require different solution so sometimes it' s difficult to say which is the best solution. Anyway your solution is really good and I think I'll try it in the future.

L.