1. Pcb Open For Business
2. Open .pcb File In Eagle

1. This post explains how to create a 3D CAD model from a PCB design from EAGLE. The following versions of the software are used: Eagle 6.6; Solidworks 2014 (with CircuitWorks) Export from Eagle. First, the board outline must be specified in the layer 20 (Dimension). If there is no board outline, add a close shape on layer 20 with the Wire tool.
2. Eagle can export the individual files directly or export them as a pre-packed and gift-wrapped zip file. This zip file contains all the necessary manufacturing files and can be uploaded directly to most online interfaces like the Seeed Fusion PCB order page, or handed directly to your chosen manufacturer.
3. About PCB Files. Our goal is to help you understand what a file with a.pcb suffix is and how to open it. The Printed Circuit Board Design file type, file format description, and Mac, Windows, and Linux programs listed on this page have been individually researched and verified by the FileInfo team.

Our free PCB file viewer offers a quick and intuitive way to locate and navigate to components and nets anywhere in your design. Improved EAGLE Support With improved support for Autodesk EAGLE file formats, you can experience them exactly as you do in the desktop tool. Autodesk EAGLE is a powerful PCB design & schematic software for professional electronics designers, with easy-to-use schematic editor, and powerful PCB layout.

Introduction

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the backbone of every electronic gizmo out there. They're not flashy like those microprocessors, or abundant like resistors, but they're essential to making all components in a circuit connect together just right.

We LOVE designing PCBs here at SparkFun. It's a love that we want to spread. It's a skill that benefits electronics enthusiasts of every caliber. Through this and a series of tutorials, we'll explain how to design a PCB using EAGLE -- the same software we use to design all of our PCBs.

This first tutorial goes over how to install the software, and tailor-fit its interface and support files.

Why EAGLE?

EAGLE is one of many PCB CAD softwares out there. So you might ask: 'What makes EAGLE so special?' We're fond of EAGLE for a few reasons in particular:

• Cross-platform -- EAGLE can run on anything: Windows, Mac, even Linux. This is a feature not too many other PCB design softwares can boast.
• Lightweight -- EAGLE is about as svelte as PCB design software gets. It requires anywhere from 50-200MB of disk space (compared to the 10+GB more advanced tools might require). The installer is about 25MB. So you can go from download to install to making a PCB in minutes.
• Free/Low-Cost -- The freeware version of EAGLE provides enough utility to design almost any PCB in the SparkFun catalog. An upgrade to the next license tier (if you want to make a profit off your design) costs at least two orders of magnitude less than most high-end tools.
• Community support -- For those reasons, and others, EAGLE has become one of the go-to tools for PCB design in the hobbyist community. Whether you want to study the design of an Arduino board or import a popular sensor into your design, somebody has probably already made it in EAGLE and shared it.

Of course, EAGLE has its drawbacks too. More powerful PCB design tools out there might have a better autorouter, or nifty tools like simulators, programmers, and 3D viewers. For us though, EAGLE has everything we need to design simple-to-intermediate PCBs. It's an excellent place to start if you've never designed a PCB before.

Recommended Reading

Here are a few tutorial and concepts you may want to familiarize yourself with before dropping down into this rabbit hole:

Download, Install, Run

EAGLE is available on Cadsoft's (the developer company) download page. Grab the most recent version that matches your operating system (the software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux). It's a relatively light download -- about 45MB.

EAGLE installs just like any old program, it'll self extract and then present you with a series of dialogs to configure the installation.

Licensing EAGLE

On the last screen of the installation process, you should be presented with a window like this:

One of our favorite things about EAGLE is that it can be used for free! There are a few limitations to be aware of when using the free version:

• Your PCB design is limited to a maximum size of 100 x 80mm (3.94 x 3.15in). 12.4 in² of PCB real estate, which is still pretty darn big. Even if you're designing a big 'ol Arduino shield, you'll still be well under the maximum size.
• Only two signal layers allowed. If you need more layers check into the Hobbyist or Standard licenses.
• Can't make multiple sheets in your schematic editor.
• Limited to email or forum support.
• For non-profit use only. If you're going to go out and sell your design, maybe check into the 'Light' version of the software.

Those limitations still make EAGLE an amazing piece of software. Engineers here at SparkFun could design 99% of our boards using the freeware version, if not for that pesky non-profit stipulation. You still have access to all phases of the EAGLE software, including the Autorouter.

If you need to upgrade your license there are a few versions available. Most licenses are still incredibly low priced (in comparing to the other stuff out there).

Exploring the Control Panel

The first time you open up EAGLE, you should be presented with the Control Panel view. The Control Panel is the 'homebase' for Eagle, it links together all of the other modules in the software.

You can explore the six separate trees in the control panel, which highlight separate functions of the software:

• Libraries -- Libraries store parts, which are a combination of schematic symbol and PCB footprint. Libraries usually contain a group of related parts, e.g. the atmel.lbr stores a good amount of Atmel AVR devices, while the 74xx-us.lbr library has just about every TTL 74xx series IC there is.
• Design Rules (DRU) -- Design rules are a set of rules your board design must meet before you can send it off to the fab house. In this tree you'll find DRU files, which are a a pre-defined set of rules.
• User Language Programs (ULPs) -- ULPs are scripts written in EAGLE's User Language. They can be used to automate processes like generating bill of materials (bom.ulp), or importing a graphic (import-bmp.ulp).
• Scripts (SCR) -- Script files can be used to customize the EAGLE user interface. In one click you can set the color scheme and assign key bindings.
• CAM Jobs (CAM) -- CAM jobs can be opened up by the CAM processor to aid in the creation of gerber files.
• Projects -- This is where each of your projects are organized into a single project folder. Projects will include schematic, board design, and possibly gerber files.

If you select a file in a tree, information about it will appear in the right-hand portion of the window. This is a great way to explore libraries, project designs (EAGLE comes with some fun examples), or to get a good overview of what a script's purpose is.

Using the SparkFun Libraries

Included with EAGLE is an impressive list of part libraries, which you can explore in the Control Panel view. There are hundreds of libraries in here, some devoted to specific parts like resistors, or NPN transistors, others are devoted to specific manufacturers. This is an amazing resource! But it can also be a bit overwhelming. Even if you just want to add a simple through-hole electrolytic capacitor, there are dozens of libraries and parts to sort through to find the right thing.

Instead of using the hundreds of default libraries, you can use the SparkFun EAGLE Libraries, which are filtered down to only include the parts that we've used in designs ourselves. And they're constantly updated with new parts we've discovered.

Here's how you can install and use the SparkFun libraries instead of (or in addition to) the default ones:

Step 1: Download the SparkFun Libraries

The most recent version of the libraries can always be found in the GitHub repository. For help using GitHub, check out our Using GitHub tutorial. Basically, all you'll need to do from the main repository page is click 'Download ZIP'.

Save the ZIP file somewhere handy. Then extract the folder -- don't forget where it is!

Step 2: Updating the Directories Window

Back to the EAGLE Control Panel window now. Go to the 'Options' menu and then select 'Directories'. This is a list of computer directories where EAGLE looks when it populates all six objects in the tree view...including libraries.

In the 'Libraries' box is where we'll add a link to the directory where the SparkFun EAGLE libraries are stored. There are a few options here. If you'd like to keep the default libraries and add the SparkFun library, add a semicolon (;) after '$EAGLEDIRlbr', and paste the SparkFun EAGLE Libraries directory location after that.

Note: Mac and Linux users should place a colon (:) between directories instead of the semicolon.

Step 3: 'Using' Libraries

Now, when you go back and look at the 'Libraries' tree, there should be two folders included, one of which should be our SparkFun Eagle Libraries. The last step is to tell EAGLE that, for now at least, we don't want to use the default libraries. To do this, right click on the 'lbr' folder, and select 'Use none'.

Then, right-click on the 'SparkFun-Eagle-Libraries-master' folder, and select 'Use all'. Then check the libraries in each of the two folders. Next to them should be either a grey or green dot. A green dot next to a library means it's in use, a grey dot means it's not. Your libraries tree should look a little something like this:

If you've created library parts that you would like to share with SparkFun to include in our Eagle library, visit this tutorial to see how.

Opening a Project and Explore

EAGLE is packaged with a handful of nifty example PCB designs. Open one up by expanding the 'Projects' tree. From there, under the 'examples' folder open up the 'arduino' project by double-clicking the red folder (or right-clicking and selecting 'Open project'). Note that, in this view, project folders are red and regular folders are the standard yellow.

Opening the project should cause two more EAGLE windows to spawn: the board and schematic editors. These are the yin and the yang of EAGLE. They should be used together to create the finished product that is a functional PCB design.

The schematic editor (on the left above) is a collection of red circuit symbols which are interconnected with green nets (or wires). A project's schematic is like the comments in a program's code. It helps tell the story of what the board design actually does, but it doesn't have much influence on the end product. Parts in a schematic aren't precisely measured, they're laid out and connected in a way that's easy to read, to help you and others understand what's going on with the board design.

The board editor is where the real magic happens. Here colorful layers overlap and intersect to create a precisely measured PCB design. Two copper layers -- red on top, blue on the bottom -- are strategically routed to make sure different signals don't intersect and short out. Yellow circles (on this design, but they're more often green) called 'vias' pass a signal from one side to the other. Bigger vias allow for through-hole parts to be inserted and soldered to the board. Other, currently hidden, layers expose copper so components can be soldered to it.

Keep Both Windows Open!

Both of these windows work hand-in-hand. Any changes made to the schematic are automatically reflected in the board editor. Whenever you're modifying a design it's important to keep both windows open at all times.

If, for instance, you closed the board window of a design, but continued to modify a schematic. The changes you made to the schematic wouldn't be reflected in the board design. This is bad. The schematic and board design should always be consistent. It's really painful to backtrack any changes in an effort to reattain consistency. Always keep both windows open!

There are a few ways to tell if you don't have consistency between windows. First, there's a 'dot' in the lower-right hand corner of both windows. If the dot is green, everything is groovy. If the dot is magenta, a window's probably closed that shouldn't be. Second, and more obvious, if you close either of the two windows a big, huge warning should pop up in the other:

If you see that warning STOP doing anything, and get the other window back open. The easy way to get either a board or schematic window back open is by clicking the 'Switch to board/schematic' icon -- / (also found under the 'File' menu).

Navigating the View

This is a subject that's usually glazed over, but it's important to know how to navigate around both of these windows.

To move around within an editor window, a mouse with a scroll wheel comes in very handy. You can zoom in and out by rotating the wheel forward and backward. Pressing the wheel down, and moving the mouse allows you to drag the screen around.

If you're stuck without a three-button mouse, you'll have to resort to the view options to move around the editor views. All of these tools are located near the middle of the top toolbar, or under the 'View' menu. The zoom in -- -- and zoom out -- -- tools are obviously handy. So is the 'Zoom select' tool -- -- which alters the view to your selection. But really, if you're serious about using EAGLE...get a mouse!

Configuring the UI

EAGLE's user interface is highly customizable. Anything from the background color, to layer colors, to key bindings can be modified to fit your preference. Better tailoring your interface can make designing a PCB much easier. On this page we'll talk about how we at SparkFun prefer to customize our UI. None of these steps are required. Customize your UI as you see fit. These are just the settings that we've grown accustomed to.

Setting the Background Color

The first adjustment we always make to the UI is the background color of the board editor. The standard white background doesn't always meld very well with the array of colored layers required for board design. Instead, we usually opt for a black background.

To change the background color, go up to the 'Options' menu and select 'User interface'.

Inside the 'Layout' box you can set the background to black, white, or a specific color.

There are other options in this box to be explored, but you may want to hold off on adjusting most until you have more experience with the software.

Adjusting the Grid

Another UI improvement we like to make in the board editor is turning the grid on. Dimensions and sizes are so important to the design of your PCB, having some visible reminders of size can be very helpful. To turn the grid view on, click the icon near the top-left corner of the board window (or go to the 'View' menu and select 'Grid').

Switch the 'Display' radio button over to 'On'. We'll also make the grid a bit less fine by setting the 'Size' to 100 mil (0.1') and 'Alt' to 50 mil (0.05').

Running Scripts

Scripts are a much more streamlined way to quickly configure your interface. With one click of the button, you can automatically set up all of your colors and key binds. Script files can also be shared, and run by anyone. Running the SparkFun EAGLE script will get your UI to exactly match ours.

First, click here to download the script (in a zip folder). Unzip the 'spk.scr' file to a location you'll remember.

Then you'll need to run the script. In the board window click on the Script icon -- (or go to 'File' then 'Execute Script'). In the file browser, select the 'spk.scr' file you just downloaded and unzipped.

This should automatically set up your color scheme to look a little something like this:

This UI setup presents a nice logical view of the layers. The important copper layers are very visible, but distinct (red on top, blue on bottom, green for vias), and the silkscreen is white as it is on most PCB designs.

All of these colored layers will make more sense as you continue to use and explore EAGLE.

SparkFun Custom Eagle Settings

To find SparkFun's most up-to-date script, and other useful files, check out our EAGLE settings repository hosted on GitHub!

Resources and Going Further

Pcb Open For Business

If you've got EAGLE set up, and you're chomping at the bit to start designing a PCB, your next step should be over to our 2-part Using EAGLE tutorials: Using EAGLE: Schematic and Using EAGLE: Board Layout. That pair of tutorials will explain how to go from a schematic design, to laying out and routing a PCB, to generating gerber files and sending them to a fab house.

Or here are some other tutorials in our EAGLE series:

• How to Create SMD PCBs -- This should logically follow the PTH EAGLE tutorial. It's a bit more advanced and fast-paced.
• How to Create SMD Footprints -- If you want to create unique parts in a library, check out this tutorial.
• Making Custom Footprints in EAGLE -- Another footprint-making tutorial. This one details a unique process for making a custom 1:1 footprint.

There’s no greater reward than spending hours designing every last detail of your PCB and then finally getting your board back from your manufacturer. The wait can seem like an eternity when you first hand-off your design files, but when you receive that package on your doorstep, it’s like an engineer’s Christmas! In our PCB Basics Series we’ve gone through the entire design process, starting with a visual representation of your circuit in schematic design, and then moving on to squeezing all of that theory into a physical footprint with components and traces. Now it’s time to move on over to the post-design process to get ready for PCB manufacturing.

It’s at this juncture where you’re tasked with assembling all of the files and documentation that your manufacturer will need to successfully produce your board. And once they have everything they need, you get to sit back and wait for a package to arrive. But how does a manufacturer know how to make your PCB? They can’t use your native EAGLE files. You’ll have to send them Gerber Files and Excellon Drill Files.

Gerbers and Drill Files Explained

If you’ve never had a board manufactured, then hearing about Gerbers, Excellon, and NC Drill Files might sound like a foreign language. After all, can’t you just send your Autodesk EAGLE schematic and layout files directly to your manufacturer and let them handle the rest? If only it were that easy. As we all know, Autodesk EAGLE isn’t the only PCB design software out there. There are a ton of other offerings, all with their own native file format. Imagine if a manufacturer had to keep track of every native file format from each PCB design tool, throughout all time. It would be complete madness!
Instead of relying on native file formats, every PCB design tool supports an intermediary manufacturing files, called Gerbers. These files describe the copper of every layer in your PCB in a way that a computer-aided manufacturing system (CAM) can understand. When Gerber artwork was first invented, they were used to provide instructions to a photoplotter machine that would create a picture of your PCB using light on a unexposed piece of film. These days, Gerbers are used to controls a laser plotting machine to make an image of all the traces, holes, vias on your PCB layout.

Gerber Files by Type and Format

The trick with Gerbers is that every file you generate will be associated with a particular layer on your board layout, each with its own unique file extension. The standard file extensions you’ll work within Autodesk EAGLE today include:

Another thing to remember about Gerbers is their available formats – Gerber RS-274D and Gerber RS-274X. The D format is the older standard and will use two files per layer on your PCB. The newer X standard has done away with the two file format and contains all of the information about a layer in a single file. Regarding having to manage your design data, this makes it a whole lot easier when you only have to keep track of one file per layer instead of two. We’d always recommend using the Gerber RS-274X format; there’s no reason not to these days.

How About Those Drill Holes?

You might have noticed that one thing missing from the table above is any reference to a drill file. This is actually as a secondary file that you’ll need to send to your manufacturer along with your Gerbers. The NC (Numeric Controlled) Drill File will be used to determine exactly where all of your drill holes are placed on your board and what size they need to be. Just as a heads up, you might also hear of an NC Drill File being referred to as an Excellon file, which is based on the drilling and routing machines that were made by the Excellon corporation back in the day.

Now that you’ve got a general idea of what Gerber and Drill Files are about let’s dive into Autodesk EAGLE and see how to generate them.

Generating Your Gerber Files

Autodesk EAGLE includes a handy computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) processor that allows you to load a CAM file and quickly generate the specific files you need for your design. In our example, we’re going to load up the Gerber RS-274X CAM file. This will provide us with five individual Gerber files for the LED Flasher project we completed in our PCB Layout Basics Series Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Here’s how to do this:

1. Open your PCB layout (.brd) file in the Autodesk EAGLE Control Panel.
2. Next, select the CAM Processor tool at the top of your interface or select File » CAM Processor to open the CAM Processor dialog.
   

   The default CAM Processor dialog without any CAM jobs loaded.

3. There’s no CAM job loaded, so let’s do that. Select File » Open » Job. Then navigate to your default EAGLE cam folder, choose the gerb274x.cam file, select Open.
4. As you can see there’s now some new tabs added to each CAM file that will be generated with this job. Select the Process Job button to create all of your Gerber files.
   

   After loading the Gerber RS-274X CAM job, you’ll have some new tabs for each layer of your design.

And that’s it! Just one simple press of a button and all of the Gerber files you need to send to your manufacturer have been created for you. If you head back into your Autodesk EAGLE Control Panel, you’ll see all of these new Gerber files listed alongside your existing project files.

You can find all of your generated Gerber files in the Autodesk EAGLE Control Panel in your project folder.

Generating Your Drill File

Open .pcb File In Eagle

While the Gerber files you just generated contain all of the details a manufacturer needs to know about your individual layers, what they don’t include is information about your drill holes. What you need now is a file that will specify the location and size of each of your drill holes. Luckily the process for making this file in Autodesk EAGLE is just as easy as making Gerbers. Here’s how:

1. Select the CAM Processor tool at the top of your interface or select File » CAM Processor to open the CAM processor dialog.
2. You now need to load a drill CAM job to get things started. Select File » Open » Job, and in your default EAGLE cam folder select the excellon.cam file, then select Open.
3. You’ll now have a single Generate drill data tab available, which will grab the data from layers 44 Drills and 45 Holes, just what you need. Select the Process Job button to generate this file.

Loading the Excellon CAM job will create an NC Drill File based on your Drill and Hole layer data.

Just like all of your Gerber files, your NC Drill File will be stored in your project folder that you can access through the Autodesk EAGLE Control Panel or folder directory. Look for the .drd file, that’s the one you just made.

Time to Pack it Up

At this point, you’ve got all the files you need to send to your manufacturer to have a bare board made. The key word here being bare board. If you’re also planning to have your manufacturer assemble your components, then you’ll likely need to send some additional files like a Bill of Materials (BOM). We’ll be saving that for PCB Manufacturing Basics Part 2.

One thing to keep in mind is that while we used EAGLE’s standard Gerber CAM file to generate our documentation, some manufacturers also offer their own CAM files that you can download. When you load one of these up, they’ll provide a job template for generating Gerbers in their specific format.

Before you generate Gerber files of your own, be sure to first check with your manufacturer to see if they offer their own CAM file for Autodesk EAGLE or their preferred output format. Otherwise, you should be safe using the standard Gerber RS274-X format available in Autodesk EAGLE.

You Designed it Right, But Can You Make It?

The entirety of this blog relied on a big assumption that the design you made in Autodesk EAGLE was actually manufacturable. Sometimes this isn’t the case, whether that’s because you put silkscreen on a pad, or you have an open loop. Whatever the situation, the difference between a completed design and a design that’s ready for manufacturing can be two different realities.

SO before you ever go about sending any Gerber or NC Drill Files off to your manufacturer, we always recommend doing a thorough check to confirm that what you designed is actually what your manufacturing files show. We’ll be covering this process of validating your design in more detail in PCB Manufacturing Basics Part 3. During this validation process, you’ll also want to officially decide on what manufacturer you’d like to use. Here are a few:

• OSH Park – A great option for keeping costs low, OSH takes designs from a bunch of engineers, sticks them on one panel, and saves everyone money along the way. Their delivery timeframe is 12 days for a 2 layer board.
• Advanced Circuits – One of the biggest and well-known fab houses around in the US, these guys offer a 1-5 day delivery on boards with 1-10 layers.
• Euro Circuits – For those over the pond in Europe, Euro Circuits is another highly rated fab house that delivers within 2-7 days for 1-16 layer boards.

If you’re planning to have your manufacturer also assemble all of the components on your board, then you’ll need to create a Bill of Materials (BOM). We’ll be showing you how to do this in PCB Manufacturing Basics Part 2!

Ready to start designing and manufacturing more complex designs? Upgrade now to an Autodesk EAGLE Subscription.