Pin mismatch always happening in EAGLE layout software

[BEAMer]

Hi,

I am good at soldering stuff on a general purpose PCB, but when I need to make many boards, I  think making professional PCBs are a good option...

In my place, they charge half a dollar for a square inch of layout (I am talking about normal 1 layer throughhole board) making and then separate charge for fabricating the PCB. And PCB fabrication is much cheaper to than the layout making...

So, i set out to make my own layout in EAGLE (EAGLE 5.6.0 Light) for a PIC microcontroller board and before giving it for fabrication, I took a print out and found that the pins are in a mismatch... That is, if i position the first pin of the 40 pin PIC on the printed layout, all the other pins are in mismatch...

I dont know what could be the reason!

I actually did it the proper way, that is, first the schematic and then convert it into a layout. I even took the correct part from the part library in EAGLE.

Are there any settings that i must follow while taking print out or something...?


BEAMer

[Razor Concepts]

When you do file>print, make sure the scale factor is 1.

Also, make sure you selected the proper PIC device. There may be several different packages for the same PIC

[BEAMer]

Hi Razor.. Thank you for your response.

I checked the scale factor and its by default 1 only.

And there is only one part in the library for the DIP package...

what else could be the problem?

BEAMer

[hopslink]

Is there an option to work in imperial or metric distance units? It may be that there is a mismatch between your layout units and the PIC package in the library. Is it only that part that is affected? What if you pick another DIP package and print?
   

[waltr]

Try drawing a box on the silk layer to a know size, 1 inch by 1inch, and print that. This will tell you if the printer's output is truly 1:1.

[BEAMer]

Hi,

I found the reason for the problem.
I forgot to mention in my first post that i was trying to generate a PDF from EAGLE and then taking a printout... there is the problem... some scale problem with the PDF maker.

Anyway, if i take a direct print out from EAGLE, its perfect. A perfect pin match 

EAGLE is very easy and amazing... 

BEAMer

[Soeren]

Hi,

I found the reason for the problem.
I forgot to mention in my first post that i was trying to generate a PDF from EAGLE and then taking a printout... there is the problem... some scale problem with the PDF maker.

What PDF driver did you use?
Might be good for others to know it's no good for this.

You can try this file to see if it prints OK for you, it's made with CutePDF as the printer driver (needs GhostScript installed).

[BEAMer]

Hi,

I didn't want to mention it earlier... I was actually using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 
But i don't know what could be a problem with that. Do you suspect there will be any settings in the PDF maker which will solve this issue...? I couldn't find anything though.

BEAMer

[BEAMer]

Thanks for the file, Soeren! From the looks of it, i feel it will suffer the same problem.
But anyway, i ll take a print out and see... If its good, then i ll start using CutePDF.

The main reason why i went for PDF is that, its easy for documentation and moreover, i don't have a laser printer at home... so i felt it will be easy to generate a PDF and take the printout wherever i want...

[Soeren]

Hi,

I do this from time to time and never had any problem.
It will show different on "100%" on different screens of course, but it should print out correctly... Or the printer is causing it.

[BEAMer]

hmmm...

Thats a good point. Till now i didn't suspect the printer. Adding to the uncertainity, i took the PDF print on one printer and the EAGLE-direct print on a different printer.