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Looks awesome! I have a quick question about PCB layout. In the video, when you switch from the schematic to the PCB layout view, there are thin lines which ar

by throwaway1979 14y ago

Looks awesome! I have a quick question about PCB layout. In the video, when you switch from the schematic to the PCB layout view, there are thin lines which are clicked to become red. There is a final line that is clicked to become blue. Can you explain what is going on there? FYI: I'm a CS person who is learning about electronics and circuits. I started building radio and op-amp circuits, and have read that prototyping on breadboard doesn't work well. I tried going from schematic to directly soldering on a perf board and it ended in disaster. This tool seems exactly what I need ... though I could use it to figure out my perf board layout.

mustate 14y ago
It looks like these are two layer boards, meaning you can route traces either on the top (red line) or the bottom (blue line) of the board. have read that prototyping on breadboard doesn't work well. That's definitely not my experience. Using a solderless breadboard may add more noise, but it's much easier to assemble and correct mistakes.
- mbell 14y ago
  > Using a solderless breadboard may add more noise, but it's much easier to assemble and correct mistakes. Noise isn't usually the major problem with breadboards, though it is an issue. The much more troubling issue and what makes breadboards useless for a large number of circuits are the parasitics from the connections. The stray capacitance and inductance can cause large problems and even outright oscillation of even relatively low frequency circuits.
  - mustate 14y ago
    Good point, thanks for the correction. I recalled assembling RF and other analog circuits using breadboards in labs, but those were likely too low frequency to run into those problems.
    - throwaway1979 14y ago
      This is the circuit I was trying to build (http://www.lucidscience.com/pro-basic%20spy%20transmitter-5.aspx http://www.lucidscience.com/pro-basic%20spy%20transmitter-5....). I've always managed to breadboard circuits of this size without an issue so I just jumped into soldering components onto the PCB. It was a total disaster and took my confidence down a few notches :( I must say, going from a novice who can make LEDs blink or hook together a few ICs to op-amps and RF circuits is turning out to be a big jump! If anyone has tips, those would be much appreciated.
      - jacquesm 14y ago
        My tip to you would be to start fixing broken electronics, preferably stuff from the 80's (people will throw those away so you can get them pretty much for free). The parts are cheap and the circuits are usually fairly easy to follow because most or all of it will be discrete components. You will learn a ton from this and you'll gain good insight into how other circuits work. This is the hardware guy equivalent of reading other peoples code.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  It just depends on what you are prototyping. Some things will run no problem on a breadboard, some will give you no end of misery. Complicated circuits, circuits with components only available in SMT packages, high-speed circuits, circuits sensitive to noise (sensors)- these are a few examples of devices you may wish to prototype on something other than breadboard.
helper 14y ago
Blue vs red represent the top and bottom layers of the PCB. When the video switches from red to blue it is to prevent two different paths from overlapping.
drone 14y ago
That's changing the layer of the trace, from top to bottom. Note the vias (circular elements in the design) where the color transition occurs. To the OP: Looks great! I like the approach for modules, I've often wished Eagle had an easier way to achieve this =) A question though, it looks like there's only one ground source allowed? Or, can those properties be changed? I prefer to separate AGND from GND when I have both analog and digital interfaces to the outside world.
- kbruneel 14y ago
  At this point there is indeed only one ground label, but if you use the generic label you can create as many as you like. Nets in the schematic that are connected to labels with the same name are merged when switching to PCB.
evoxed 14y ago
Try breaking down your circuits into components/units that you can solder with leads to the next [breadboarded] component. For more critical bits it may not help all that much, but it will get you going in the right direction and make real life a little easier to Command-Z. Of course, if you're attempting something just beyond your current grasp then it can't hurt to try it first in the simulator :)

mustate 14y ago

It looks like these are two layer boards, meaning you can route traces either on the top (red line) or the bottom (blue line) of the board. have read that prototyping on breadboard doesn't work well. That's definitely not my experience. Using a solderless breadboard may add more noise, but it's much easier to assemble and correct mistakes.

mbell 14y ago
> Using a solderless breadboard may add more noise, but it's much easier to assemble and correct mistakes. Noise isn't usually the major problem with breadboards, though it is an issue. The much more troubling issue and what makes breadboards useless for a large number of circuits are the parasitics from the connections. The stray capacitance and inductance can cause large problems and even outright oscillation of even relatively low frequency circuits.
- mustate 14y ago
  Good point, thanks for the correction. I recalled assembling RF and other analog circuits using breadboards in labs, but those were likely too low frequency to run into those problems.
  - throwaway1979 14y ago
    This is the circuit I was trying to build (http://www.lucidscience.com/pro-basic%20spy%20transmitter-5.aspx http://www.lucidscience.com/pro-basic%20spy%20transmitter-5....). I've always managed to breadboard circuits of this size without an issue so I just jumped into soldering components onto the PCB. It was a total disaster and took my confidence down a few notches :( I must say, going from a novice who can make LEDs blink or hook together a few ICs to op-amps and RF circuits is turning out to be a big jump! If anyone has tips, those would be much appreciated.
    - jacquesm 14y ago
      My tip to you would be to start fixing broken electronics, preferably stuff from the 80's (people will throw those away so you can get them pretty much for free). The parts are cheap and the circuits are usually fairly easy to follow because most or all of it will be discrete components. You will learn a ton from this and you'll gain good insight into how other circuits work. This is the hardware guy equivalent of reading other peoples code.
sliverstorm 14y ago
It just depends on what you are prototyping. Some things will run no problem on a breadboard, some will give you no end of misery. Complicated circuits, circuits with components only available in SMT packages, high-speed circuits, circuits sensitive to noise (sensors)- these are a few examples of devices you may wish to prototype on something other than breadboard.

helper 14y ago

Blue vs red represent the top and bottom layers of the PCB. When the video switches from red to blue it is to prevent two different paths from overlapping.

drone 14y ago

That's changing the layer of the trace, from top to bottom. Note the vias (circular elements in the design) where the color transition occurs. To the OP: Looks great! I like the approach for modules, I've often wished Eagle had an easier way to achieve this =) A question though, it looks like there's only one ground source allowed? Or, can those properties be changed? I prefer to separate AGND from GND when I have both analog and digital interfaces to the outside world.

kbruneel 14y ago
At this point there is indeed only one ground label, but if you use the generic label you can create as many as you like. Nets in the schematic that are connected to labels with the same name are merged when switching to PCB.

evoxed 14y ago

Try breaking down your circuits into components/units that you can solder with leads to the next [breadboarded] component. For more critical bits it may not help all that much, but it will get you going in the right direction and make real life a little easier to Command-Z. Of course, if you're attempting something just beyond your current grasp then it can't hurt to try it first in the simulator :)