14 May
2004
14 May
'04
4:42 p.m.
I use Eagle too. Spent the whole $1200. Maybe whether
humans are better at
routing depends on the human. It was pretty clear to me that wasn't how I
wanted to spend my time, even if I could do a better job, so I am really
happy with the autorouter -- I let it handle the "easy" 90 percent of the
routing job.
Heh! Well, I didn't want to pay for it either:-)
I like to make my own PCBs when I can, though -- no
solder mask there.
If you are doing much surface mount, especially with the finer pitch parts,
you want a solder mask.
Maybe I will try my wings with surface mount using some
of these 74f04d I
recently inherited :-)
I bought a used Metcal MX1 on eBay and it is easily the best iron I've
ever used! Throw out all of the others. I also have a Bausch & Lomb Stereo
Zoom 4 microscope which makes surface mount much easier, at least for my
aging eyes.
--tom