{"id":566,"date":"2017-05-02T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=566"},"modified":"2023-09-26T10:28:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T17:28:23","slug":"eagle-first-flights-webinar-surveying-part-placement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/eagle-first-flights-webinar-surveying-part-placement\/","title":{"rendered":"EAGLE First Flights Webinar – Surveying Your Part Placement"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAGLE First Flights Webinar – Surveying Your Part Placement<\/a><\/h1>\n

Some say that PCB design is a form of art, and for a good reason. When it comes to your PCB layout, there\u2019s a ton of freedom and a wealth of creativity available to do things your way. And this is also what makes your PCB layout process so difficult. There\u2019s no universal \u201cright\u201d way, and so you\u2019re left with rules of thumb, tribal knowledge, and the flow of your intuition to put the pieces together. But this doesn\u2019t mean it is entirely\u00a0wild west. There\u2019s still the reality that you\u2019ve got a small shape to put all of your components and a set of physical boundaries applied. So how can you maximize the enjoyment of your PCB layout process? It starts with your PCB part placement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Becoming a Layout Artist<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a reason why they say PCB design is 90% placement and 10% routing. You\u2019ll likely be spending 90% of your time placing and nudging where your components will call home. And the good news is that 90% is probably the most enjoyable and creative part of the entire electronics design process. But getting started can be overwhelming, and frustrating if you don\u2019t know some basic guidelines.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I attempted to place all of my parts I had no idea what I was doing, and it made me a bit nervous. Unlike designing a schematic, which is all based on mathematics, my PCB layout was an entirely different beast. I had an empty canvas, and it was up to me to decide where things needed to go (kind of). But where in the world was I supposed to start? I suddenly missed all of the precision and exactness that a schematic provided.<\/span><\/p>\n

I made a handful of mistakes, of course. I had a couple of integrated circuits and thought I would toss them right next to each other. Only to find out that when it came time to route all of the pins I had run out of room. Small mistakes like this can bloom into a huge mess down the road, and I found myself having to start over from scratch until I got things right. When doing your part placement, you always have to be thinking ahead, asking yourself questions like:<\/span><\/p>\n