Paul Crawford wrote:
I use a copy of PADS PowerPCB (originally at significant expense, now
owned by Mentor Graphics so probably even more expensive) so don't have
to worry about the design tools side of things.
There are a lot of cheap and usable packages out there, but with PCB
stuff you always seem to need a bit of time & effort to get over the
initial hump of making *anything* usable. Typically getting to know the
tools and creating a library of usable package decals takes effort. Why,
oh, why are they never supplied with useful decals to begin with?
I ran a PCB drawing office back in the early 80s before PC based EDA
became commonplace. We spent a lot of time then creating footprints.
Then in the 90s at another company we moved from using external PCB
layout to an in house system and one of the cvriteria for the system we
chose was that it had lots of footprints. We still eneded spending a lot
of time making our own.
In the UK I have found the "PCB Train" service is quick and good value:
http://www.pcbtrain.co.uk/
I came across that one too. Prices seem reasonable too. Good to hear
from someone who has actually used them.
Cheers
Ian
They also offer a reasonable cost option for assembling stuff , that is
useful if you are forced to use SMT devices and don't have the tools or
eyesight to do it by hand yourself.