Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Chaoticone on April 01, 2008, 08:31:53 PM

Title: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 01, 2008, 08:31:53 PM
Any one know of a decent program for doing wireing diagrams that's reasonable?

Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 01, 2008, 10:21:35 PM
Hey Rich, I use Autosketch a lot(I love this little cheap program for a lot of the simple stuff). It is made by Autodesk. A really watered down version but its super simple. It can be done in that, they have a pretty large library and it isn't too bad. The thing is, its not really geared for this type work. I downloaded a trial of Diptrace which I like. When routing wires you just connect the pins and it runs them in a legible manner. That can spoil a fellow in a hurry.  ;D The full blown version is about $700 which is way more than I care to spend on this. You can get a non-profit licenses for a 1000 pin 4 layer version for about $125. This may work, but it sure will be a bite in the a** if I put a load of time in it to find out I have 1002 pins. I won't actually land wires on that many pins I know, but I would like to give a true rep. of the connectors. Each drive has 77 pins and there will be 5 of these and one with far less. But, that is almost half capacity of the 125 version already. I'm not really interested in the PCB side of it although might be nice to have. I just need a pretty good one for wiring diagrams.

Thanks for helping,
Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: kcrouch on April 01, 2008, 10:32:32 PM
Brett,
Check out the schematic program from ExpressPCB.com It's intended for drawing PCB schematics to create wire run lists, but its free and has extensive libraries of components and also You get the ability to dreate Your own component types. Great for creating ckt bd's too. and You can't beat free!
Kenny
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 01, 2008, 11:01:45 PM
Thanks Guys.


Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: HillBilly on April 02, 2008, 06:26:27 PM
Here is an example of a diagram done with Express PCB.

Darek
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 03, 2008, 12:30:08 AM
Thanks Darek, nice ladder. You do good work. I did download Express PCB early on today and played with it a little. It looks like it would be nice for ladders. I really wanted to do a schematic, but looks like I will run out of patience before I find a good program for that. Diptrace is way ahead of all I have seen for this so far, just too pricey.

Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: sshneider on April 03, 2008, 02:12:27 AM
Hey Brett,  have you checked out http://proschematic.com/ ?
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 03, 2008, 04:19:32 AM
Thanks Sshneider. I looked at it earlier today. I have all but come to the conclusion that this is going to have to be done the good old fashioned way. In cad.  ::)  Oh well, I don't think it will be too bad once I get my symbols made up. The more I mess with Autosketch, the more I like it. I think with the added benefits of doing in cad, it will be worth the time. I will allways have the symbols in a scaled dxf. I can zoom in on any part and print a page view, will be nice for seeing the tiny details. I have attached a screen shot of some of the things I have been messing with. I downloaded all of Automation directs dxf files for most things they sell. That will help a lot I think.

Thanks,
Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 03, 2008, 05:07:21 AM
If anyone has a list of standards to follow for labeling connectors, switches, wires, cable assemblies, etc. I would love to hear that. I'm sure I can come up with my own logical system, but would be nice to know industry standards if there are any.

Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: HillBilly on April 03, 2008, 06:53:00 AM
Thanks for the compliment! Here is a schematic example.

Darek
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Whacko on April 03, 2008, 05:09:40 PM
Imsi TurboCad. It has plenty libraries for wiring diagrams with some samples for ideas, and the deluxe version I think is about a 100 bucks. I use it for wiring diagrams and Mechanical drawings for the machine shop. You can do 3d on it too with raster support and walkthrough, in fact I rate it better than Autocad (not slamming ACAD). The current version is 15 I think.
The link is http://www.turbocad.com

Whacko
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Sam on April 03, 2008, 05:32:18 PM
Theres always Eagle from cadsoft. I used it quiet a bit a few years back. It has an auto router, tons of symbols, and even a cam processor that I never tried, so I can't advise on that aspect of it. I found it to be user friendly, and if you know your way around any cad software, you should pick up on the workings of it with ease. Free version is limited to 2 layers, and 4in X 3.2in work table. http://www.cadsoftusa.com/Tour/tour00.htm
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Chaoticone on April 03, 2008, 11:38:38 PM
Thanks Guys. I will have a look at Eagle. Think it is the only one I haven't looked at yet. Unless I'm overly impressed with it, I'll use the Autosketch. It is a watered down version of Autocad, but like Whacko, I like it better than the full blown Autocad. Not knocking it, just bragging on Autosketch. Express PCB looked ok too. The one thing I like about the Autosketch verses the others is the views. Printable views. You can draw it in a scale of 1=100 and zoom in for detail and print the page view. That is nice. Can also set it up for a large plotter and print tiles on standard paper. Hopefully I'll get something together to post in the next 2 weeks. While in this learning curve, I thought it would be nice if we had a dxf, dwg components library we could add to and share with each other. Could have common components such as BOBs, smooth stepper, etc. What do you guys think?

Does anyone know any of the standards for labeling if there are any?

Brett
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: Fiero Addiction on April 04, 2008, 07:26:52 PM
I use DesignWorks. http://www.capilano.com/products.html
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: FarReachFarm on April 04, 2008, 07:38:36 PM
I've used Eagle and well as ExpressPCB.  Both have free versions.  I like each, but for different purposes. Eagle is downright professional, a bit tricky at first to use IMHO, however it works well for larger projects.  I'm using it to completely remap the wiring of my Discovery 300 VMC as part of the conversion to Mach3.  Here's a link to the free version http://www.cadsoftusa.com/freeware.htm
Title: Re: Needed, Good wireing diagram program
Post by: FarReachFarm on April 04, 2008, 07:39:40 PM
Forgot to mention... there are huge component libraries for Eagle available