I am almost done with my first major breadboard project. It will be time soon to make the blueprint for making a pcb. I like the graphical interface of Fritzing but I suspect Eagle Cad may be able to export a standard file if I want to hire someone to make the PCB's for me?
Could anyone please tell me if Fritzing is ill advised if I plan to hire a PCB manufacturer. Also..Can Fritzing export a file into Eagle Cad for file conversion purposes?
Thank You
jarrod0987:
Could anyone please tell me if Fritzing is ill advised if I plan to hire a PCB manufacturer.
Nothing wrong with Fritzing for that.... it exports Gerber files, no problem.
However as you gain experience you will want something more capable than
Fritzing - its the way in to more sophisticated tools.
Frizing is excellent when converting a schematic into a breadboard. And there are breadboard style PCB which allow you to transfer your design directly to them and solder them. This was one of the ideas behind my post here: Viability check, request for comments - #5 by nilton61 - General Electronics - Arduino Forum.
That would give you a CPU, Power supply and a breadbord style pcb as well as a identical lab module with a real breadboard.
If you are planning to finalize with a custom PCB i would go for eagle (or kicad or designspark or similar) PCB design in fritzing is possible (although a little more awkward) and you have the advantage of using the same program for both schematic, breadboard and PCB design as well as having the option of having fritzing fabricate the pcb for you. At a definitely competetive price as long as you want less than maybe 5 boards. Above that, have a look at ITEAD
I can't comment on Fritzing as I've never used it but, as has been said many times, the learning curve for Eagle can be steep.
One of the biggest challenges is learning to design components, I probably spent days designing my first component but, when you get used to it, it becomes a trivial task.
I'm recently moved to Altium Designer and I think the time spent with Eagle stood me in good stead.
The other thing that I found daunting was producing Gerber files but it's not that hard. Itead studio provide DRC (used to check your board is compliant with their manufacturing tolerances) and CAM (used to convert your Eagle designs to Gerber files). I'm sure other board houses do the same.
One thing I'd suggest is don't be afraid to get a couple of boards made even if they're not perfect. It's hard to beat holding the finished product in your hand and comparing it to the designs in order to learn what works well and what doesn't.
You learn from your mistakes, I'm VERY well educated 