[volt-nuts] PCB Design Packages

[Sam Reaves]

Well I could go on for hours with this subject  as I have used or tried
nearly every PCB package out there, including DesignSpark, which I found
not so easy to use.

I also have an aversion to dedicated supplier PCB programs that do not
output Gerber files. I think this is why RobotRoom created their ExpressPCB
compatible program (IIRC Copper Connection) that can read ExpressPCB files
and create Gerber files.

I longed for a Windows version of my DOS Tango PCB Series II program as it
was very easy to use. It did lack two features that I needed: copper pours
and rotation finer than 90 degrees. 274X output would have been a plus. All
of these features were added when Accel created P-CAD 2000 thru 2006 for
Windows, a great program but low cost it was not. DOS Tango was 995.00 when
it came out.

However after some years I stumbled upon a suitable and for the most part a
product superior to the Tango DOS product: SprintPCB

The excellent, not free but very inexpensive (49 Euros) PCB package from
Abacom called SprintLayout6.0 (link below). If you are outside of the EU
the cost is 19% less (minus their VAT).

You can download a demo that does everything but save your work for free.
And they take PayPal. There is also a free viewer that can view the native
files. Although you may never need it they have excellent support. Bugs
have been minimal and the product has been very stable for me. I have run
it on XP and Win7 32/64 with no issues. Licensing is simple and you can
install on more than one PC as long as you use it only on one PC at a time.

Here is a short list of exceptional features that this program has that is
(for me) a good bang for the buck (or euro!)

1. Ability to import 274X Gerber files to allow you to easily turn them
into an editable PCB file (I found this really handy to create PCB's from
Eagle and other PCB CAD package files.

2. Ability to import a BMP file from a scanned image and scale and float it
in the background so that you can trace over it to create editable artwork.
Really handy for those old designs or for working from artwork from
magazines or the back of the ARRL handbook.

3. Easy Ground plane/Power plane pour. Pads can be set as thermals to
connect to the plane with independent connection to either plane. Zone
pours and cutouts can also be done.

4. Support for four layer boards.

5. Easy to use footprint creation tool for SMT/Thoughhole parts

6. Easy to use part library generation. Many parts available.

7. The ability to rotate parts in very fine increments.

8. Photo view mode that shows you exactly how the finished PCB will look.

9. Isolation generator for creating milling plots for making PCB's on a CNC
mill. Worth the price for this feature alone. When used with Bernhard
Pahl's SL2M3 program which converts the HPGL milling plot files and the
drill/mill data to G-Code for running CNC programs like Mach-3. With some
manual editing of the G-Code text one can use the program with LinuxCNC.

10. Simple point to point semi-automatic router that works with manually
placed connections.

11. Moving the reference datum (X0 , Y0) point for all layers is really
easy and I have not found any other program that does this as easily.

12. Perhaps most important: The program is very easy to use and learn and I
have made dozens of boards using it in all of the modes.

What it does not do:

No real full autorouter, hence no netlist input/output

Board size limited to 300mm/300mm

Limited to: 4 copper layers + 2 silkscreen + 1 Outline layer + Top and
Bottom Paste layers. It would be nice to have a couple of more
documentation layers but their multi-board tab feature makes it easy to
create a copy of the artwork so you can output additional layers and rename
the Gerbers as needed.

There is much more but this post is getting long and I want to point out
that this company has a couple of more useful inexpensive programs:

Splan7.0: A schematic creation program
FrontDesigner: A panel creation product that has print and milling/drilling
output capability.

The usual disclaimer: I have no financial or other interest in the company
the makes these programs, but I do like what they do and look forward to
the next version, perhaps with more features!

Sam
W3OHM
Owner and Moderator of the LeCroy_Owners_Group on Yahoo! Groups


Links:

http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/sprint-layout.html
http://www.b-pahl.de/bastel/isofr/sl2m3en.html
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/splan.html
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/frontdesigner.html