Any one know of a decent program for doing wireing diagrams that's reasonable?

Brett

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.  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

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

Thanks Guys.


Brett

Here is an example of a diagram done with Express PCB.

Darek

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

Hey Brett,  have you checked out http://proschematic.com/ ?

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

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

Thanks for the compliment! Here is a schematic example.

Darek