Easy EDA autorouter fails miserably

[netdudeuk]

Hi

I've been using Easy EDA to put together a schematic around some Nixie tubes.

I'm just a hobbyist but satisfied with the design so I've dragged the components onto a PCB.

I'd like to use the autorouter (yes, I know) but it fails to hook up just about everything.

Just to see if it makes any difference, I've tried rotating the driver ICs (at the bottom of the board), spreading out the Nixie tubes and neons and moving the bus extenders from the ends to the bottom. 

Nothing makes any difference though.

Are there any obvious ways to get this done automatically ?

The files are available for review if that would help.

Thanks

[kripton2035]

https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/Please_add_dsn_export_option_for_FreeRouter-Hi6GECbLJ

[phil from seattle]

I'm not a user of Easy EDA but, in general, autorouters are very hard to use.  I gave up on them a long time ago and just route by hand.  The good news - it isn't nearly as hard as it looks.   

Some general things you might try.  Route the power by hand around the outer edges of the board.  Look for patterns and try to run "bundles" of wires to leave lots of open space. If you are doing a 2 sided board (if not, you should), try routing mostly vertical on one side and mostly horizontal on the other.

In your specific case, your layout appears reasonable.  Note that each nixie and it's driver IC looks to be the same. So, try routing just one pair.  It should be pretty easy.  Once you have one pair done, knock off the other 5 the same way. After that, there won't be a lot of wires to do.

[jpanhalt]

With a circuit like that, I would route one of the 6 "units" then apply the same to each of the rest.  Your brain is better than any autorouter I have seen as you understand how the circuit works, and you know the commonalities and differences of each unit.

Rather than try a "cut and paste" of a routed subunit, I would simply use that as a guide template for the rest.

[twospoons]

The only form of 'autorouting' I've ever found worthwhile is the manually guided sort, where the user effectively guides each route and the software does the fiddly bits (hugging and pushing tracks etc). Except for very specific situations its both faster and better to manually route, rather than to try to get an autorouter to do the job. 

[free_electron]

Easy EDA autorouter fails miserably

there, fixed it once and for all.

[phil from seattle]

Easy EDA autorouter fails miserably

there, fixed it once and for all.

bwahaha! Tru dat.

[Doctorandus_P]

Why do you like "the autorouter"?
Was that just because of you got mesmerized by the word "auto", and your hopes of what that promised?
Are you still continuing to like it after you've discovered that it fails miserably?

I've tried to use an autorouter a few times somewhere back in the late '90s.
It got the board routed for about 95%  in a few minutes, and cleaning up the board and putting in the last 5% was more work then manually laying the tracks in the first place.
Autorouters can be "usable", if your circuit design allows for it, and/or if you have much experience with setting it up. Some of the expensive programs have advanced functions which partially automate the layout, such as breaking out a big databus from an FPGA and getting that databus to somewhere else on the PCB. (You can find some youtube vids of this stuff).

Your board also looks suspiciously like the nixie tube board Dave used in: " EEVblog #975 - Human vs Autorouter"




The amount of effort required for manual routing of a (fixed) design is very much dependent on the tools you have available.
A few years ago I settled on using KiCad (I tried some 6+ different PCB programs during an evaluation period). At that time I did not look at the tools for routing very much. Later KiCad improved and the "Interactive Router" got added, which is a wonderful tool in KiCad. You still have to lay the traces from a start point to the end point manually, add via's etc, but the way it can shove bundles of already laid tracks aside to squeeze in one more track or make room for an extra via is a huge time saver.
This video is a good introduction to KiCad's Interactive Router:

[netdudeuk]

Guys

Thanks for all the replies.

I thought that I may have had a chance to get the autorouter to do it without making the mistakes that I'm likely to make and to save some time too.

I made my first radio PCBs forty five years ago with some copper clad, an etch resist pen and some ferric sulphide.  I also almost blinded myself with the latter back then.

Now, the thought of being able to design a project and receive fully probe tested, high quality double sided boards with etch resist, THP, the silk screen, etc. is amazing.  For next to nothing too.

I've downloaded KiCad again.  I'll have a go.

Thanks for the videos.

I wouldn't say 'suspiciously' like Dave's    It's just a Nixie display board driven by the classic K155ID1 high voltage driver ICs.  I believe Dave used something more modern.  The design is on EASY EDA for anyone who's interested.

I've got those videos and Dave's other Nixie PCB design video queued up to watch.

[IconicPCB]

Ever tried TOPOR?

Look it up

[kripton2035]

topor is really nice,  even better than freerouter. the problem is you have to export the netlist from easyeda first.
then finish the pcb completely in topor.

[netdudeuk]

I had a look at TopoR thanks.  It looks like the free / demo version is too limited in terms of the number of connections.

[kripton2035]

can you give us the link to the easyeda schematic ?

[netdudeuk]

can you give us the link to the easyeda schematic ?

Thanks for asking 

Here it is -

https://easyeda.com/netdudeuk/nixie-display-board

The schematic is there along with some board layouts.

The bottom two should be the same.

Please ignore - PCB_2020-05-02_19-56-09

[kripton2035]

can you please export the netlist using different format and upload it here.
I can't do it surely because I'm not owning the schematic.

[netdudeuk]

can you please export the netlist using different format and upload it here.
I can't do it surely because I'm not owning the schematic.

Thanks.

EasyEDA can export a netlist in a variety of formats:

Spice: this is a Spice3f5 compatible netlist generated by the simulation engine of EasyEDA, Ngspice. It is not normally used as the basis for as a PCB layout.
Altium Designer: a PCB netlist in a format that can be imported straight into Altium Designer and it’s predecessor, Protel.
Pads: a PCB netlist in a format that can be imported straight into Pads PCB layout tools.
FreePCB: a PCB netlist in a format that can be imported straight into FreePCB, a free, open source PCB editor for Windows.

What would be the best option ?

[kripton2035]

Pads: a PCB netlist in a format that can be imported straight into Pads PCB layout tools.

[themadhippy]

had a look but it wont let me save\copy the schematic or   generate a pcb from  the schematic

[netdudeuk]

Pads: a PCB netlist in a format that can be imported straight into Pads PCB layout tools.

Uploaded thanks.

[kripton2035]

sorry, topor can't open this pads export. although it says it opens pads "asc" files.
even if I rename the file extension from .net to .asc, it still doesn't open.
can't test further.

[JLCPCB Official]

Hello ;

Sometimes the cloud autorouter shows errors and fails due to some timeout issues. have you tried the local router! you can get it as it shows this picture

[netdudeuk]

sorry, topor can't open this pads export. although it says it opens pads "asc" files.
even if I rename the file extension from .net to .asc, it still doesn't open.
can't test further.

Thanks for looking anyway.  Really appreciate your efforts.

[netdudeuk]

Hello ;

Sometimes the cloud autorouter shows errors and fails due to some timeout issues. have you tried the local router! you can get it as it shows this picture

I installed the local router thanks but it didn't make much difference.

[netdudeuk]

Hi

I let the autorouter do what it could, which is mostly down from the bottom bus extenders.  I then manually routed the rest of the nets.

I'm now ready to add a top ground copper layer with a 0.4mm clearance to allow for the 180v.

I'm just wondering about the rest of the tracks from a 5v / 180v perspective ...

[IconicPCB]

TO KRYPTON2035

Topor will import a .ASC file which is a PCB file not a netlist file.

So  in order to go with Topor experience could the OP please provide aPCB file with pcb outline, component placements and  rats nest netslinks and then export this the PCB file in .ASC  format.
Topor will import the .ASC file and do its majick.