Matrix user forums

Just been told of this software from RS anybody used it ? wheres the catch ? as it's not on RS website its on a different site

http://www.designspark.com/home

Steve

Looks pretty nice, not seen that one before. Good find

Looks like the site and maybe the CAD package are based around buying components from RS.

found the catch . . when you goto make the board its MASSIVE !! 1750 x 2000 mm and this cannot be changed in the free version.
have gone back to using eagle from cadsoft .

steve

Thanks for letting us know how you got on.

Hi Steve,
I’m giving design spark a try as well as other pakages.

Steve001 wrote:found the catch . . when you goto make the board its MASSIVE !! 1750 x 2000 mm and this cannot be changed in the free version.

If you look in C:\Program Files\DesignSpark\DesignSpark PCB\Doc
You will see on page 38 of DesignSparkTutorial.pdf:
‘If you require a custom board size and shape, and decide not you use our pre-defined shapes of
rectangle or circle, this can also be easily achieved.’
It than goes on to explain how to change the board size.

Martin

will have a look at that later . i am pritty sure i looked at that because when i went to the rats nest tool and make pcb
the window that opened the sizes of the pcb where greyed out . i know theat ther is a ver 3 out now it may have changed in that.

steve

has it changed from this ?

when you make an array it makes up serveral small pcbs into one huge sheet

steve

Hi Steve,
500mil is not 500mm.
A mil is an imperial measurement.
1mil = 1thou of an inch = 0.0254 mm
500mil is 500 x 0.0254 = 12.7mm

Or did you already know this?

With the Design1 that is already saved in Design spark the board size can be shrunk right down.


Martin

that works now

steve

Hi,
I have used Design Sparks PCB V3 for a double sided pcb. The outline was quite complicated with tappered sides, cutouts for internal pillars and a profile that followed the internal case profile. I used DXF import to get the board outline into DS3 which after getting the units right went smoothly. I liked DS V3 for placing components as you could type the reference coordinate to get a precise location and then 'fix' it to avoid accidental moves.
In general it all went well, but had a few issues with tracks ending at pads, sometimes I ended up with " loose ends" where presumably I wobbled the mouse and minute bits of track were placed within the pad area! These through up a few errors in the DRC and I often unrouted a segement of track to remove the error and re-track. For this application I manually tracked the whole board as I wanted to control the placement of analogue and digital signals as well as analogue and digital supplies.
Like all packages there is a learning curve, but I found the tutorials, videos (Brom's) and forum helpful.
I got my board back from PCB-Pool and once populated (included mbed module on rear, LCD module on front, plus surface mount analogue components) everything worked first time! I was really pleased with that as I had never used surface mount components before.
Having just purchased Flowcode 5, I now look forward to designing a PIC version and learning Flowcode to see how the two processes compare.

DesignSpark is a great package. I have used it to produce a four layer board. It does takes a while to learn ( at least it did for me) but the help file is very useful.

I'm not sure that there is another free program that does multiple layer (more than two layer) boards except for the proprietary software packages that restricts you to one manufacturer. It produces gerbers that you can get fabricated anywhere.

I am also Trying design spark.
The component library is a bit limited,
But there is a way to Import the Eagle libraries which is great.
Cant say much since It is the first time I use this kind of Software.
Best Regards:
Uli

Designspark is an interesting program to develop your own PCB.
http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/el ... -home-page

In combination with a (very) cheap PCB producer like e.g. seeedstudio: (10 pieces 5x5 cm dual layer for 9.90 US dollar)
http://www.seeedstudio.com/service/inde ... pcbService

It is to do for a hobbyist.

Designspark does have the schematic and PCB layouts for PIC microchips, but not all. They are in the library
(C:\user\public\documents\designspark5.1\Library\) :
microchippic.cml (component)
microchippic.cmx
microchippic.ssl (schematics)
microchippic.ssx

The available PIC12F and PIC16F are shown in the attached txt file.

Does someone know/have the other newer microchip data?

With kind regards

JAn Lichtenbelt

Hi Jan,

What Chips you looking for ?

I might have them in eagle i could export them in an ASCII file for for you
or you could download the free version of eagle and export them yourself

http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/el ... -libraries


Steve

Attached list of components on Microchip Library

Cannot upload as .lbr file 13 meg

Can email it if anyone wants it , i also have a couple more

Steve

Dear Steve,

Your list and my list both start at 16F54 and higher. The question still remains what about all microchips between 16F1.... and 16F54?

Kin regards

Jan Lichtenbelt

Hi Jan,

Do you have Ultra Librarian ?

They list quite a few microchip pic series IC's

http://www.accelerated-designs.com/Ultra.aspx

http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en ... mbols.html

its not software i have but they list the following

PIC10
PIC12
PIC14
PIC16C
PIC16F
PIC16HV
PIC17
PIC18
PIC24F
PIC32


Steve

Hi Jan,

Do you have Ultra Librarian ?

They list quite a few microchip pic series IC's

http://www.accelerated-designs.com/Ultra.aspx

http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en ... mbols.html

Its not software that i have, but they list the following

PIC10
PIC12
PIC14
PIC16C
PIC16F
PIC16HV
PIC17
PIC18
PIC24F
PIC32

and Dspic series stuff

Steve

Dear Steve,

Thanks for your links. The Ultra program can create the PCB-layouts and the Microchip does have an extended list of CAD/CAE Symbols. I took quick trial with thee last symbols, but failed to read them in DesignSpark.

Of coarse one can make yourself the symbols and PCB footprints in DesignSpark, That is what I do, if they are not present in a library.

But making it yourself, it will take (a lot of ) time. That is the reason I look for a library, which can be used in DesignSpark. And in this case for the missing microchip PIC12F and PIC16F.

Kind regards

Jan Lichtenbelt

are these what you are looking for ?

I cannot upload the full pdf list as file too large

I could email you the full list if you wish

I have extracted the library also (26 meg)


Steve

attached is the ULP files to extract eagle files to a .eil file

Eagle library files (.lbr) contain Schematic symbols, PCB footprints and Part/Component information all in one self contained file.

Design Spark uses individual files for each library type Schematic symbols, PCB footprints and Part/Components.
Therefore during conversion, the one Eagle library file (and resultant .eil file) is converted into separate Design Spark files.


Steve

I learned from Steve that the .eil files can be coverted not only into the schematic symbols, bit also into the PCB symbols and the Components (combination of both).


Steve thanks!

Jan Lichtenbelt