Designing Circuit Boards With EAGLE: Make High-Quality PCBs at Low Cost
"Matt Scarpino has provided a great tool for the hobbyist starting out in the circuit board design world, demonstrating all the features you’ll need to create your own circuit board projects. However, the experienced engineer will also benefit from the book, as it serves as a complete reference guide to all EAGLE software configuration settings and features. His insightful guidance helps simplify difficult tasks, and his handy tips will help save you hours of trial-and-error experimentation."
--Rich Blum, author, Sams Teach Yourself Arduino Programming in 24 Hours and Sams Teach Yourself Python Programming for Raspberry Pi in 24 Hours
Powerful, flexible, and inexpensive, EAGLE is the ideal PCB design solution for every Maker/DIYer, startup, hobbyist, or student. Today, all open source Arduino designs are released in EAGLE format: If you want to design cost-effective new PCBs, this is the tool to learn.
Matthew Scarpino helps you take full advantage of EAGLE’s remarkable capabilities. You won’t find any differential equations here: only basic circuit theory and hands-on techniques for designing effective PCBs and getting innovative new gadgets to market.
Scarpino starts with an accessible introduction to the fundamentals of PCB design. Next, he walks through the design of basic, intermediate, and complex circuit boards, starting with a simple inverting amplifier and culminating in a six-layer single-board computer with hundreds of components and thousands of routed connections.
As the circuits grow more complex, you’ll master advanced EAGLE features and discover how to automate crucial design-related tasks. Whatever your previous experience, Scarpino’s start-to-finish examples and practical insight can help you create designs of stunning power and efficiency.
- Understand single-sided, double-sided, and multilayer boards
- Design practical circuits with the schematic editor
- Transform schematics into physical board designs
- Convert board designs into Gerber output files for fabrication
- Expand EAGLE’s capabilities with new libraries and components
- Exchange designs with LTspice and simulate their responses to input
- Automate simple repetitive operations with editor commands
- Streamline circuit design and library generation with User Language programs (ULPs)
- Design for the advanced BeagleBone Black, with high-speed BGA devices and a 32-bit system on a chip (SoC)
- Use buses to draw complex connections between components
- Configure stackups, create/route BGA components, and route high-speed signals
Why Read This Book
You should read this book if you want a hands‑on, start‑to‑finish guide to producing your own PCBs with EAGLE: it walks you through schematic capture, board layout, libraries and generating fabrication files, with pragmatic tips that save time. You will get workflows and practical tricks that scale from one‑off maker boards to small run production, making EAGLE immediately productive.
Who Will Benefit
Hobbyists and embedded engineers (beginner→intermediate) who design custom PCBs for microcontroller projects or small products and want a tool‑centric, practical workflow.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Basic electronics and schematic literacy (components, nets, footprints) and general comfort with desktop software; no prior EAGLE experience required.
Key Takeaways
- Create and edit multi‑sheet schematics in EAGLE and link them to PCB layouts
- Design PCB layouts using good placement, routing and layer strategies and apply DRC rules
- Build and manage custom part libraries and footprints for through‑hole and SMT parts
- Generate and verify manufacturing outputs (Gerbers, drill files, NC drill, BOM) using the CAM processor
- Apply practical design‑for‑manufacture and assembly tips (panelization, silkscreen, solder mask)
- Automate and extend EAGLE with ULP scripts and useful workflow shortcuts
Topics Covered
- Introduction to EAGLE and PCB design workflow
- Installing EAGLE and configuring the interface
- Schematic capture basics and multi‑sheet schematics
- Board creation: placement, constraints and layers
- Routing: manual routing and autorouter techniques
- Design rules, clearance and electrical checks (DRC/ERC)
- Library management: creating parts and footprints
- Silkscreen, solder mask, and copper pours
- Preparing CAM files and generating Gerbers
- Design for manufacture, panelization and assembly considerations
- Using ULPs and advanced EAGLE features
- Project workflows, tips, and troubleshooting
- Appendices: keyboard shortcuts, resources and fabrication services
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
More tool‑focused and practical than broad references like The Art of Electronics; compares well to single‑tool EAGLE guides (e.g., Simon Monk's EAGLE tutorials) but is stronger on end‑to‑end PCB workflow and manufacturing outputs while not covering deep signal‑integrity topics.













