PCB layout and schematic software

[Steve001]

Just found out today that auto desk have purchase eagle.

Will be keeping an eye out on this as auto desk products can be very expensive, they say nothing will change but I will be keeping an eye out

https://cadsoft.io/blog/autodesk-acquires-eagle/

Steve

[Steve001]

have been keeping an eye out over the last few weeks / months
There seams to be a lot of negative comments and activity on an Eagle support forum (not autodesk) saying that the licence key as partly generated by network cards Mac address / cpu serial numbers and hard drive serial number and that autodesk are not very sympathetic with a "buy a new licence" attitude if anything changes ie upgrade to a new laptop or pc.

easy pc has been recommended by a few from numberone systems.

Have eagle V8 free edition as a try out but think i will stay with V6

Steve

[EtsDriver]

I personally have changed my mind and moved to Altium CircuitStudio after Autodesk announced that they have aquired Eagle. Im not just happy about the new licensing system and as i was middle of need to change my licenses to be commerial, i bought Altium... Altium support team has been pretty easy to get contacted through Farnell and the phone support has helped a lot when i was middle a tricky situation that was all about running with clock. 5/5... There is a freeware piece that is called Altium Circuit Maker, that is mostly similar to the Altium Circuit Studio too, but has some limits!

Here is a example 3D view of a pcb i have desinged in Altium CS:

[Steve001]

Afternoon All,

looking at PCB software again, must say I am very disappointed in Autodesk and their attitude to things we have a few Autodesk products at work
inventor, AutoCAD mechanical & electrical.
We don't make many PCBs and looked at eagle 9.4 to find that they have gone subscription biased now at about £14.00 month.
After downloading the free version I opened up 3 component libraries that I use regular to find they are the same as I have and had not changed the date was 2012 - disappointed.

can anyone recommend something ? 3D would be nice if you can export this into a .stp file so we can import into inventor

I do use the following parts

Traco & XP Power (ACDC & DCDC Convertors)

JST Terminals 2mm pitch (PHDR series)

Phoenix contact terminals (MKDSV5/2 series)

Steve

[medelec35]

What about Kicad along with Library loader?

[Steve001]

Cheers martin

Will look into those - Library Loader looks interesting do you use that ?
I noticed on there you tube video that they use Design Spark didn't know that could do 3D now
Can i ask what you are using these days ?

Steve

[EtsDriver]

I earlier mentioned Altium Circuit Studio, it has .step export natively and you can download components from mouser to It directly if not intrested in building own checked library.

Phoenix has pretty good library on samacsys for Altium. Most are Community or in-house checked.

[medelec35]

Library Loader looks interesting do you use that ?

Yes I use it as it's very useful.
For example:
If I need to use 18f47k40, I first run Library loader then select my PCB package:

LL1.png

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Then search for component:

LL2.png

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Note: It automatically takes you to RS or Mouser depending on your selection when first ran Library Loader.
Finally, download the required component:

LL3.png

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Saves having to create a component from scratch.
There is even a free component request service if component does not exist.

Can i ask what you are using these days ?

I'm licenced to use Proteus, so mainly use that.
If I was not, then from all I have read I would use Kicad.

You can download plugins that allow direct imports to the PCB libraries.
My library Loader is a bit out of date now, should install the latest version

[kersing]

After using Altium Designer, Eagle and Design Spark PCB in the past, last year I started using Kicad for a commercial project. I had looked at it a long time ago and decided to stick to what I was using at the time but this time I was pleasantly surprised with its capabilities and decided to keep using it for the project.
For huge complex projects (and given sufficient budget) I would probably go back to Altium. Especially if FPGAs are involved because of its integrated support for FPGA design. For everything else (or if there just in’t the money for Altium licenses) I expect Kicad will be my choice from now.

[Steve001]

Thanks guys

I think I will give it a go to be honest was a bit put off with kicad as I read that eagle users tend to struggle as they are used to the qwerks of eagle.

Watched a you tube on library loader and was quiet impressed with it.
After speaking with the pheonix contact rep today he told me quite a lot of their stuff is on ultra libraian he had not herd of library loader

Will let you know how I get on

Steve

[Steve001]

Sorry for the late reply on this one ..

in a nut shell, wish I had tried Kicad
When I tried to use the ULP to export to a .stp 3D model the ""Preview" looks fantastic and can export straight into inventor
Then when you click "go" a box appears .. you need to purchase this add in £££££ the exported model wouldn't import to inventor and what was exported in a .stp when opened up was very blocky and didn't look anything like the resistors where just rectangles the caps just cylinders

Fantastic how 2 auto desk products don't work together ! or you have to shell out mega money

I ended up exporting the board only as a .dxf and populating the components by hand in inventor

Library Loader - Brilliant
And they helpful also, I made a comment on some pad sizes on a high current terminal and they changed the model within 24 hours

Steve

[medelec35]

Hi Steve.
You can install a plugin to FreeCAD which imports Kicad PCB:

Kicad LCD Board.png

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Then convert it directly to .step:

LCD Display Generated Step File.png

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There is an option to directly export to .step within Kicad, but does not work well at all.

[Steve001]

Hi Martin

oooooooooooo i wonder if you can do that with eagle files ?

might have to give it a whirl later

Steve

[medelec35]

oooooooooooo i wonder if you can do that with eagle files ?

If not Kicad can import Eagle files.

[Steve001]

Just had a look,

Looks like freecad can import eagle .brd files but the freecad forums have mixed reviews about importing eagle .brd files and the success rate
might have a go later when I have more time.

Steve