Introduction To Eagle CAD Workshop
This is a small collection of links meant to give a basic foundation for learning and using CadSoft's Eagle CAD software. It doesn't even try to be comprehensive; for that, try Google.
The Bare Minimum
Download Eagle CAD (for Linux, Mac, and Windows) directly from CadSoft here.
Useful Add-ons
- SparkFun's Eagle Libraries contain many (all?) of the components that they sell on their site, as well as many other useful components.
- Adafruit's Libraries are also a great addition to any installation of Eagle CAD.
- SparkFun's Design Rules are a good choice for boards that you're going to send to a professional fabrication service.
If you're going to fabricate your own boards (e.g., via etching or milling, as opposed to using a professional service), you may find hobbyist design rules more amenable to those less-precise fabrication techniques: the traces are wider and have more clearance between them. These rules are great for self-fabricating single-sided (or even double-sided) boards that use through-hole components; given the tighter pin pitches of surface-mount components, these rules are not useful for designing boards that use them.
Getting Boards Made
There are many economical PCB manufacturing services to choose from these days, but they are not all the same. Rather than try to list them all here (and fail at it), these sites list many of them, along with recommendations, pricing, etc.:
- Lady Ada's list and cost calculator
- Open Circuits
More Learnin'
- CadSoft has tutorials for every version of EagleCAD since version 4.0. CadSoft's Tutorials
- There are several Eagle CAD tutorials in the tutorials section of SparkFun Electronics' website. Here is a nice two-part introduction: Part 1: Using Eagle: Schematic (Sparkfun) and Part 2: Using Eagle: Board Layout (Sparkfun)
- If you want to try your hand at fabricating your own boards, this tutorial is an excellent push in that direction.
For those looking for something beyond the basics, Adafruit has a good introduction to making your own parts in Eagle, which is something most Eagle users end up needing to do sooner or later. And, searching for eagle in Adafruit Learning System yields many intermediate and advanced Eagle CAD topics.
