Custom PCB

[Mach]

I downloaded Eagle Lite over the holidays to design a PCB for Berserker's Arduino Nano. Who are you guys using to make your PCBs?

Any tips for using Eagle? Should I be looking at making a double sided board?

Here's where I've gotten so far but its been painful.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_UdQdiSb7gT4/TSIAPVHEUHI/AAAAAAAAMD8/QjrTyZ7jceY/s800/board.png

[x88x]

I would move the bottom cluster to the top right, cut off, what, 20-30% of the board space needed?

As for programs, I've never used one myself, but I've heard good things about Eagle. CJ, Crenn, or SXR should be able to offer better advice on that point.

[SXRguyinMA]

I just followed some of sparkfun's tutorials on making PCBs with Eagle, and it was easy to understand and follow. Sparkfun also has BatchPCB (http://batchpcb.com/index.php/Products) for getting boards made. If you're going to etch them yourself, single-sided is easiest. If you're going to have them made, double-sided will be easier and most likely end up with a smaller board. Check this thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24932) for the ones I got from BatchPCB (http://batchpcb.com/index.php/Products).

They ended up costing me $15.05 per board for 2 of them, and turnaround time was just under 3 weeks from time of order to when they got to my house.

Follow the tutorials below. I had never used Eagle before, and after these tutorials I can make things up pretty easily. The autoroute feature is very nice as well. The only thing that's difficult is selecting packages for parts. They're not named typical things sometimes, and even then you need to make sure you get the right size part. The best thing to do (aside from the tutorials) is print out a 1:1 scale of your board and lay otu the parts on it to make 100% sure you've got everything sized right and clearances accounted for. And also make good use of the SparkFun parts library. They've got a lot of stuff in there that makes things easier

Getting started with Eagle (http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/108)

Basics of laying out a PCB with Eagle (http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/109)

My eagle design:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/sportrider12584/Tempest%20SXR/louverduino_eagle_rev_2.png

The fresh boards:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/sportrider12584/Tempest%20SXR/louverduino-1.png

Assembled:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/sportrider12584/Tempest%20SXR/louverduino-4.png

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/sportrider12584/Tempest%20SXR/louverduino-5.png