Have a question about CadSoft EAGLE?  Ask our Expert, Richard! (Archive)

Hi,

besides of the drill-aid.ulp you need a modified PS device for the CAM Processor. Please add to the file eagle.def the following:

[EPS-Drillaid]

@EPS
Long     = "Postscript with max hole size in pads/etc, ala drill-aid.ulp"

Header3  = "%% redefine our /h function with a fixed diameter\n"\
           "/h {  %% draw a hole\n"\
           "   /d  exch def\n  %% Still need to pop diam off stack\n"\
           "   d 5000 gt {\n"\
           "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\
           "   } if\n"\
           "   /y  exch def\n"\
           "   /x  exch def\n"\
           "   d 0 gt {\n"\
           "     newpath\n"\
           "     x EU y EU d 2 div EU 0 360 arc\n"\
           "     currentgray dup\n"\
           "     1 exch sub setgray\n"\
           "     fill\n"\
           "     setgray\n"\
           "     } if\n"\
           "   } def\n"\
           "%% The drawing\n"

[PS-Drillaid]

@PS
Long     = "Postscript (printable) with max hold size ala Drill-aid.ulp"

Header2  = "%% redefine our /h function with a fixed diameter\n"\
           "/h {  %% draw a hole\n"\
           "   /d  exch def\n  %% Still need to pop diam off stack\n"\
           "   d 5000 gt {\n"\
           "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\
           "   } if\n"\
           "   /y  exch def\n"\
           "   /x  exch def\n"\
           "   d 0 gt {\n"\
           "     newpath\n"\
           "     x EU y EU d 2 div EU 0 360 arc\n"\
           "     currentgray dup\n"\
           "     1 exch sub setgray\n"\
           "     fill\n"\
           "     setgray\n"\
           "     } if\n"\
           "   } def\n"\
           "%% Remainder of Header2 copied from define for PS device\n"\
           "%% the real drawing size:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/MinDrawX %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MinDrawY %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MaxDrawX %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MaxDrawY %6d EU def\n"\
           "\n"\
           "%% the usable page size:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/LeftMargin 0.25 inch def  %% change these if drawing gets clipped!\n"\
           "/BotMargin  0.25 inch def\n"\
           "/PageWidth  %7.4f inch def\n"\
           "/PageHeight %7.4f inch def\n"\
           "\n"\
           "%% are we going to rotate?:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/RotateDrawing %d 0 ne def\n"\
           "\n"
           ;(x1, y1, x2, y2, Width, Height, DoRotate)

Now it should work as expected.

Regards,

Richard

Hopefully a simple question..... I'm not a very frequent user, so I can't say for sure if this is new behaviour or what.  Previously (well before the latest 5.11.0 update) I used the drill-aid.ulp to create drill-locator holes on my PCB.  I use blue press-n-peel paper on home made PCBs, so this is actually pretty important

I have a CAM job that exports a postscript file, and I use GhostScript to open and print the file.

When I look at the PCB, I can see the drill aid layer 116 with what appears to be the correct fill.  When I went to do this with my latest board, the postscript file has regular size holes in the pads - so I checked my CAM job and confirmed that 116 was selected, but it doesn't seem to have come through to the output.

Has anyone seen this kind of behaviour?  Any thoughts on how I might get my CAM job working fine again?

hi Yasser,

there is an ULP that allows to generate ipc-d-356 format. Please download it from the CadSoft web site.

Direct link:  ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/eagle/userfiles/ulp

Regards,

Richard

Hi Richard

It's a very usefull topic and I hope you will continue asnwering questions.

Also, it appears to me, that it's time to remake the standard rcl  library for better search results (everybody must have the same or will  not work), to include more data. Even the BOM script doesn't produce  the accurate data.

What I suggest (for ex. resistor):

• att more attributes and use them in search, like case style,  voltage, power ratings, material, etc (industrial users may prefer  manufacturer)
• remove all these resistors and replace them with ONE with multiple packages.
• designLink should set those attributes and re-use them later in  search (actual names there are not for humans) and mass-clean selection.
• Add farnel search options (checkboxes below) for stock only, new products, etc.

The current problem is that component names on schematics have some human meaning like RLED These names means nothing to the program and I won't change them to  PNM1206E5002BST5PNM1206E5002BST5

Suggest now, that i have five 1uF capacitors (for smth simple,  film) on my board and I need one 1uF tantalum +/- 1% for MCU. Right now,  I must use a strange values like "1uF 5% film" or "1uF tantalum", or  BOM thinks that its a same component.

I still suppose, there is some kind of solution

I have a question about test file in  Eagle

can I generate the IPC-D-356A data format which I can use it in  ATG machine " the flying probe test"?

and how?

Jorge_Garcia wrote:

 

Hopefully Richard won't mind if I take care of this one.

 

Hi Jorge,

thank you for jumping in here. All comments are highly appreciated.

Richard

Hi Andrew,

Hopefully Richard won't mind if I take care of this one.

In EAGLE the easiest way to tell wheter you have a single-sided or double-sided board is to look at your route colors. If it's a one sided board you'll only have either blue or red traces but not both. If you see both red and blue traces then you have a double-sided board.

In my experience, this procedure for the toner-transfer method has worked well for me:

-Don't print instead, use the cam2image.ulp first. In the ULPs options select Monochrome, set the resolution to 675(If I recall correctly that's the highest it will do) and make sure to set the output format to bitmap.Run the ULP.

-It will ask you for a CAM job, select gerb274x.cam and hit ok.

-Click Ok again to run the ULP.

-You will now have 5 or 6 images in the same directory as your board file. Your going to be interested in either the .cmp.bmp image or .sol.bmp image. Inspecting the images will let you know which one you need, because if you made a single side board one of the files will only have pads and vias in it no traces.

-Using your favorite image editor, or in the worst case windows paint, print the image and proceed as normal with the Toner transfer method.

Here's the reasoning behind using the cam2image.ulp. It is desirable to have as high a toner density as possible on the paper. More toner will produce a better mask on the board yielding better quality and reliablity, you'll also minimize "pinholes" in your traces. The bitmap file format should be used becaused the file is not compressed, if you use say the jpeg format then your lines will blur do to the compression and your final board will suffer.

hth,

Jorge Garcia

Cadsoft Support

hi there richard my name is andrew. i have been involved now with electronics for 3 years or so. so i have limited knowledge. i enjoy making my own pcb's

i have been using circuit wizard. which is fine but limited. so i got cadsoft eagle. now ive figured out how to place components in a schematic and from there make a board. but i dont know how to print the layout out so i can make an actual pcb. i have printed my board out but it still as the components on it and im not even sure it it is single sided or double sided. it is suposed to be single but how do i tell it.

i realy would appreciate any help so please help

Hi,

you bought a license for EAGLE version 5. This means you can use all EAGLE releases that begin with 5.

As soon as there is a new major release (version 6) it will be possible to buy it for a special update price.

Regards,

Richard

So does this mean that newer versions can be used with older licence keys?

What forces a new licence to be purchased?   Major revision?