SparkFun Forums

[Zuofu]

I'm not too sure where to put this, but does anyone know how to make a good layout for the button pad contacts in Eagle? I made a weak attempt by just putting two disconnected semicircles, but it didn't make contact very well.

Also, is there some kind of special corrosion free solder that's required to tin the switch contacts? The switches seem to corrode in air after a couple of days and progressively get worse in their reliability...

Thanks!
Zuofu

[Philba]

learn how to make library entries in eagle. Then you can make the part and have it available for any project.

You might want to tin the board. solder might work ok. the best choice is gold plating though that's beyond most hobbiests.

[Pyrofer]

IF you get a PCB made by Olimex they do the gold coating for you!

They do vvery cheap proto-pcbs and take Eagle Files too.

Have fun, Im not associated with them, just a happy customer.

[Zuofu]

Ah, thanks for the hint on the gold plated PCBs, so that's what gold plating is for.

As for the footprint, I know how to make footprints in eagle, but I'm not quite sure of how to make the complex geometry for the static layer like on the Spark Fun example boards, for example. Maybe just two thin circles will do?

Zuofu

[Philba]

The easy, but probably kludgey, way is to go into the lib editor, create a new package and then draw what ever you want in the top layer. then add either an SMD or PAD and connect it to the pattern. I don't see an easy way to make an arbitrary shape into a PAD or SMD.

gold plating is also for other kind of contacts like the fingers of PC boards.