Different X and Y for grid

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Is it possible to have a different X and Y dimension for the grid when creating a footprint in the Library editor? For instance, if you were trying to make an SO8 footprint, the spacing between pins 1 and 2 is 1.27mm, but the spacing between pins 1 and 8 are 5.4mm. In Altium and KiCAD you can just set your Y grid spacing to 1.27mm and the X grid spacing to 5.4mm and then place all of your footprint on the grid. I have to imagine something like this is possible in EAGLE too and I just can't find it anywhere nor can I find any documentation on it.

Thanks

-Chris

[C.Nicks · Accepted solution]

Eagle does not have separate X and Y grids, but there are alt grids. What I would do is set the primary grid and the Alt grid for the different settings.

In my opinion, having an Alt grid is much better than having separate X and Y. With the alt grid, just hold alt to switch. The alt grid can even be set to different units.

What has really helped my workflow is setting a shortcut for the command "grid last"

By using that command, you can toggle back and forth between 2 full grid settings (each with primary and alt), which allows on the fly selection of 4 grid settings. Good luck getting that to work in Altium.

I have F1 set to the command "display last" to toggle back and forth the layers view, then I have alt+F1 set to toggle the grid. Very fast.

Also, one of the single most important mappings that greatly accelerated my workflow was to change the Caps Lock key into Enter. Eagle's workflow requires lots of enters and escapes, and getting both of those on one hand is really helpful. Combine that with adding shortcuts to toggle grids and views and you'll be lightning fast.

Personally, the only change I'd like to see regarding the grids would be a direction lock. For example, if you move a part or trace while holding shift it would only move along one axis at a time. Photoshop has this, and I think it would be one of the best additions Autodesk could make to Eagle.

Regards,

Cameron Nicks

Phase IV Engineering, Boulder CO

Experience: 130+ RF/mixed boards designed in Eagle (4-7)

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Wow. That was a fantastic answer C.Nicks. I could not figure out what the Alt Grid was used for but now I think I understand, and yeah, that sounds pretty sweet. I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for the recommendations on the shortcuts. Any other awesome suggestions like that that can speed up my workflow?

I'd also like to know if there's a way to change the origin of the part. For instance, if you begin drawing your footprint on Pin1 but then want to move it to the center of the footprint when you're done, is this possible?

Thanks

-Chris

[C.Nicks]

Hey Chris,

Glad I could help out. In order to change the origin very easily, calculate how far you want to move and set your grid to that. If your part has a pitch of 156mil, set your grid to 78 and move it over. When you change the grid and move something over, it wont snap to the actual multiples (grid dots or lines) unless you press ctrl while clicking. This is very helpful to move things in multiples of the grid and not just snap to the grid (I'm looking at you Altium).

What I suggest for additional workflow technique is really get to know how Eagle handles the command line. Did you know you can quickly select tools or options without writing the whole command? I couldn't believe how fast I could go using it.

For example if you want to quickly change the package a component uses, type "ch pac" (same as selecting Change->package) into the command line, hit enter and then select the part you want. Anytime you want to select a different width or drill size, just type in the size when you have the tool selected.

It took me a while to really know what was going on, but once you do it's very powerful and fast.

The manual is an excellent source of information, so get familiar with it.

Play around with the snap settings to see what you like (also in Options -> Set... ->Misc). Here are what mine are set to. Catch factor = 5, Select factor = 2, and Snap length = 2mil.

Another way I streamlined my workflow was mapping shortcuts to my mouse. Shortcuts that are similar to eachother I have set the same with different modifiers. I have group and move set to the same button, but to select group I hold alt. Info and show, delete and ripup, you get the point. Keep track of the tools you use the most, then map those to the easiest way to select them.

[samykamkar]

Note that you can actually do 'c pa' for change package! (I use 'c w Xmm' often for changing route width; love the short commands and will try your multi-grid idea!)

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Ok so I'm trying to Alt grid technique, but I'm still having a bit of trouble with it. I keep drawing diagonal lines with it, rather than drawing straight lines like I want to when drawing silkscreen.

As an example, I'm trying to draw a line on the tPlace layer that goes from -2.5,2.25 to -2.5,-2.25. This type of line is trivial on KiCAD and Altium because of the ability to have a different dimension on the x and y scales. In Altium I would just make the X grid 2.5mm, and the Y grid 2.25mm. With Eagle I find I need to draw the line from -2.5,-2.5 to -2.5,2.5 and then go into the properties for the line and manually change the Y fields to -2.25 and 2.25 respectively. 

I tried setting the Alt grid to be 2.25 but when I do this, it just wants to draw a diagonal line instead. Is there another technique for doing what I'm trying to do or is this just the way Eagle works?

[C.Nicks]

I try to keep the smallest common multiple. So in your case I would do all of the drawing with a 0.25 grid, so 2.5 and 2.25 can be placed using the same grid. If you want straight lines instead of diagonal, change your wire bend to be 90° (right click through the different bend settings).

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Yeah I can certainly use a most common denominator too. But I'd still encourage the developers to consider adding the ability to have separate X and Y dimensions for the primary grid. Don't take away the Alt grid, I still see the value in it, but just add the ability to separate the X and Y grid.

[jorge_garcia2]

Hi CdenneyB9ZMH,

I've entered an enhancement request to the developers. So now they are aware of this suggestion.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Excellent. Thank you.

[C.Nicks]

​Jorge,

Please make sure that if this is a feature to be added that it is an option, not a requirement. So there needs to be a link toggle or something similar so if you want both to be the same you don't have to type it in both fields. Entering the same number twice to change grids would not improve workflow. I personally would not use this feature very often.

If you want to make real enhancements to the grid that would add a lot of value add a radial grid. Designing circular boards would be so much easier.

[cdenneyB9ZMH]

Could not agree more with regards to the need for their to be a toggle. The default should be that the two are linked so when you change the value of X, the value of Y changes automatically to match X and vise-versa. There would need to be a toggle button to unlink the two values such that you could type a different value into the X and Y fields. Ideally, the Y field would be grayed out while the two are linked and not even accept input. You'd only be able to adjust X, which would in turn adjust the Y field automatically, until you clicked the toggle switch. Then the Y field would become white and accept input.

[jorge_garcia2]

Hi Guys,

I've updated the enhancement request.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Best Regards,

[JetForMe]

I don't see how the alt grid solves the problem of putting pads down on one spacing in X and another in Y. Picture a 1.27 mm pitch 2xN header: the spacing between rows is different than between adjacent pins. There's no way to use the alt grid to make positioning those pads easy.