overview

This repository contains code and tools for interacting with Autodesk Eagle files, and particularly for creating Eagle board files that can be used to manufacture front panels for electronics. Originally this was intended for Eurorack synthesizer systems, but now also has crude support for custom enclosures, such as the ubiquitous plastic "jiffy boxes".

At present, the below tools are included:

• panelgen: create a new blank panel board file
• go-eagle: derive a new panel board file from the board file for your circuit

The below panel formats are supported:

• Eurorack 3U, per Doepfer spec
• Pulplogic 1U, per Pulplogic spec
• Intellijel 1U, per Intellijel spec
• custom enclosure specs defined in a YAML file

installing (releases)

Grab one of the prebuilt binaries from the release page if there is one for your operating platform. If not...

installing (source)

Firstly, install a Golang toolchain and git. Then...

$ git clone git@github.com:jsleeio/go-eagle.git
$ go build
$ go build ./cmd/panelgen

go-eagle (formerly named 'schroff')

go-eagle is used for deriving Eurorack module front panels from the Eagle board file for the module's actual circuitry. That is, you design your module's circuit board in Eagle, and then go-eagle examines the board file to discover:

• which circuit components (potentiometers, jacks, LEDs, etc) require panel drill holes
• the size of any such drill holes (via the component's PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute)
• where the holes should be placed (via the component's origin coordinates)
• where the legend text should be placed (via the component's origin coordinates, and optional offset)
• header text to be placed in silkscreen at the top of the panel (via the board's PANEL_HEADER_TEXT attribute)
• footer text to be placed in silkscreen at the bottom of the panel (via the board's PANEL_FOOTER_TEXT attribute)

Components that need panel holes must have a PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute.

list of global and component attributes

attribute name	type	default value	purpose
PANEL_HEADER_LAYER	global	tStop	layer to place header text on
PANEL_HEADER_OFFSET_X	global	0.0	nudge panel header text left or right (millimetres)
PANEL_HEADER_OFFSET_Y	global	0.0	nudge panel header text up or down (millimetres)
PANEL_HEADER_TEXT	global	<HEADER_TEXT>	text for header section of panel
PANEL_FOOTER_LAYER	global	tStop	layer to place footer text on
PANEL_FOOTER_OFFSET_X	global	0.0	nudge panel footer text left or right (millimetres)
PANEL_FOOTER_OFFSET_Y	global	0.0	nudge panel footer text up or down (millimetres)
PANEL_FOOTER_TEXT	global	<FOOTER_TEXT>	text for footer section of panel
PANEL_LEGEND_LAYER	global	tStop	layer to place panel legend text on
PANEL_LEGEND_SKIP_RE	global	none	RE2 expression; if a component name matches, legend text is skipped
PANEL_DRILL_MM	component	none	panel drill size to create for a component. Required for drill holes.
PANEL_HOLE_STOP_WIDTH	component	2.0	override the width of the stop-mask ring around the component hole
PANEL_LEGEND_LOCATION	component	above	set to below to place the legend text below the component instead of above
PANEL_LEGEND_OFFSET_X	component	0.0	nudge panel legend text left or right (millimetres)
PANEL_LEGEND_OFFSET_Y	component	0.0	nudge panel legend text up or down (millimetres)
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS	component	no	set to yes to add tick marks around component hole, eg. for potentiometers
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_COUNT	component	11	number of ticks to draw
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_END_ANGLE	component	240.0	ending polar angle to which to draw ticks, in degrees. Zero degrees is at 9 o'clock
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_LENGTH	component	1.5	length of ticks
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_LABELS	component	no	set to yes to add text labels next to tick marks
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_LABELS_TEXTS	component	none	labels for tick marks, separated with ,. Quantity must match PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_COUNT
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_START_ANGLE	component	-60.0	starting polar angle from which to draw ticks, in degrees. Zero degrees is at 9 o'clock
PANEL_LEGEND_TICKS_WIDTH	component	0.25	width of ticks
PANEL_LEGEND	component	component name	override panel legend text for a component

commandline options

$ ./go-eagle --help
Usage of ./go-eagle:
  -format string
    	panel format to create (eurorack, pulplogic, intellijel) (default "eurorack")
  -hole-stop-radius float
    	Radius to pull back soldermask around a hole (default 2)
  -text-size float
    	label text size (default 2.25)
  -text-spacing float
    	spacing between a hole and its related label (default 3.5)

generating board files

To generate a panel board file:

$ go-eagle morphlag-rev2.brd
2019/06/02 17:48:17 FALL: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 7
2019/06/02 17:48:17 IN: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 6
2019/06/02 17:48:17 OUT: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 6
2019/06/02 17:48:17 OUTPOL: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 6
2019/06/02 17:48:17 RISE: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 7
2019/06/02 17:48:17 SHAPE: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 7
2019/06/02 17:48:17 SW1: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 4.5
2019/06/02 17:48:17 POLARIZE: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 7
2019/06/02 17:48:17 OUTINV: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 6
2019/06/02 17:48:17 MANUAL: found PANEL_DRILL_MM attribute with value 7.5

The output panel file takes the name of the input file and adds the suffix .panel.brd:

$ ls -l wavolver2-rev1.brd.panel.brd
-rw-r--r--  1 jslee  staff  17912 28 Apr 17:02 wavolver2-rev1.brd.panel.brd

compatibility

At present the generated board files load just fine in Eagle 9.3.2+ (probably many earlier versions also!) but are not accepted by OSHPark's Eagle board loader. I'm not sure why this is, but it's most likely not OSHPark's fault, so please don't complain to them if you try to use this. Just generate some Gerber files instead.

custom panel specifications

These are now supported by panelgen and go-eagle, and are defined in YAML files that look like the below:

name: testEnclosure
width: 100.0
height: 75.0
horizontalFit: 0.0
cornerRadius: 0.0
mountingHoleDiameter: 3.1
mountingHoles:
  - { x: 10, y: 10 }
  - { x: 90, y: 10 }
  - { x: 10, y: 65 }
  - { x: 90, y: 65 }

Usage wth panelgen:

$ ./panelgen -format=spec -spec-file=enclosures/spec-test.yaml \
  -reference-board=data/ref.brd -output=test.brd

Usage with go-eagle:

$ ./go-eagle -format=spec -spec-file=enclosure.yaml test.brd

This is extremely preliminary at present.

panelgen

panelgen is used for creating new, blank panels in Eurorack, Pulplogic 1U or Intellijel 1U formats. An existing Eagle board file is required in order to derive the desired set of Eagle layer information. This can be any Eagle board file.

Demonstration usage, creating a 6hp Pulplogic tile:

$ ./panelgen -format=pulplogic -reference-board=data/ref.brd -output=mytile.brd -width=6

commandline options

$ ./panelgen -help
Usage of ./panelgen:
  -format string
    	panel format to create (eurorack,pulplogic,intellijel,spec) (default "eurorack")
  -outline-layer string
    	layer to draw board outline in (default "Dimension")
  -output string
    	filename to write new Eagle board file to (default "newpanel.brd")
  -reference-board string
    	reference Eagle board file to read layer information from
  -spec-file string
    	filename to read YAML panel spec from
  -width int
    	width of the panel, in integer units appropriate for the format (default 4)

to-do

• exhaustively scan the Eagle DTD and add the various missing items (libraries!)
• BOM generation tool
• custom panel format should support defining a list of keepouts in at least rectangular and circular shapes
• a tool to generate an Eagle library for a custom enclosure, including keepouts and cutouts features inside the case, and a Dimension layer outline. This would be useful for a layout quick-start on the PCB to go inside the enclosure

copyright

Copyright 2021 John Slee jslee@jslee.io.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.