How is it possible to make Eagle parts containing multiple components?

Question

Is there any way to achieve the following (or something equally helpful) in Eagle?

I would like to create a library Part that itself consists of multiple components pre-connected and pre-routed (by me).

For example (simplified):

1. I would create a library part called "PartX" made up of an LED and two resistors connected in series.

2. Thus, in a schematic, when I place this PartX, I get both LED and two resistors together along with the pre-drawn nets in between.

3. And likewise, in a board layout, I get the LED and two resistors placed according to the pre-set positions, along with the traces pre-routed between them.

This would really help speed up things for certain boards I am currently designing.

Answer 1

What you're describing can be done in the Eagle library manager. Essentially, Eagle will treat your aggregate component as an integrated circuit. You can create a PCB footprint in Eagle, with multiple pads. For example, pads 1 & 2 are the LED, 3 & 4 are resistor. Eagle allows to draw wires in the component editor. When you route the rest of your board, these wires will be fixed to the footprint and will not be routable.

If you are going to assemble your board with a pick & place, you will need coordinates for the components. Eagle will produce only one (1) set of coordinates for your aggregate part, even though it has several separate parts. You would need to find a way around this. But, if you'll be assembling the boards manually, you will not have this problem.

Other design packages (OrCAD, Altium) support hierarchical blocks. At a minimum, hierarchical blocks let you reuse schematic. Some EDA software supports hierarchical blocks with PCB layout reuse.

Answer 2

Creating a "hybrid" library part like that is probably not the best way to approach this in Eagle.

Eagle has a powerful scripting language that can be used to automate repetitive tasks.

Also, anything you can do in the GUI, you can also do by typing a command at the command line (although sometimes it's a little hard to figure out the specific command you need). Often, it's sufficient to edit a series of commands in a text editor and just copy them into Eagle's command line.

And don't forget that you can repeat a previous line of commands by simply hitting uparrow on your keyboard until you see the one you want, and then hitting return.

All of this applies both to the schematic editor and the layout editor. (And the library editor, for that matter.)

Answer 3

This is a little old but could be helpful to other users. Create a project and then create your circuit. To reuse the circuit start a new project and you can import the old project in multiple times. Solves pick and place problem and without scripting.