Sparkfun_Panelizer fails on Eagle 9.5.2

Question

Sparkfun_Panelizer fails on Eagle 9.5.2

Gilbert54 opened this issue 5 years ago · comments

I tried running the ulp directly from the .brd file in Eagle. Initially I get a complaint that the script doesn't know what board color to use, but after that it seems to run quietly. But I can't find the result.
It does create a folder "Production" in my project folder with a file "ordering_instructions", but that's all it does. I get no error message, not notification that it did the job or where to look for results.
Can you help. My Eagle version is 9.5.2.

BTW:

against better judgement, Eagle is installed in C:\EAGLE 9.5.2. My preference would be to put in in the "Program Files (x86)", but I kept the default installer setting to avoid the risk for issues with wrong paths.
related to this, the ulp script fails to find "C:\Eagle.ulp". Not sure which part of the program is generating this error (Eagle .exe or the sparkfun ulp), but it doesn't make sense to have an ulp file in the root directory. I looked for eagle.ulp in the Eagle 9.5.2 program folder (and subfolders). It doesn't seem to exist at all. I looked for the string "Eagle.ulp" in the panelizer ulp, but drew a blank as well.

Nathan Seidle · Answer 1 · Sat Feb 01 2020 00:56:08 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Thanks for trying out the panelizer! We use it multiple times a day, but there's some quirks because we really built it for us, not a general tool.

I recommend running the ULP from the brd window. I see now there are some confusing comments at the top of the ULP (I'll remove).

The panelizer tries to ID the board color based on Logos (do I see the SparkFun logo? The SparkX logo? Or the LilyPad logo?). Don't worry if it throws that warning, the ordering instructions.txt will just have 'Red' as the default color.
The location of eagle.exe shouldn't matter. I have it in C:\Eagle v.v.v.
The location of eagle.ulp does sort of matter. I believe the panelizer loads eagle.ulp (aka your default settings) once the panel is opened up. So it's ok if eagle.ulp is not found; it just won't load your eagle settings like key assignments and layer colors.

Here's how it works for me:

And a couple seconds later:

And there should be a "XYZ-Panel.brd" file created in the 'Production' subfolder.

Gilbert54 · Answer 2 · Sat Feb 01 2020 20:04:57 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Nathan, thanks for replying so quickly. It doesn't work for me as described in your mail. First, the script creates the Production folder, then I get the error message about the color. After making the selections in the little window I press "generate" and all I get is a file called "ordering_instructions.txt". No Panel or ;brd file in that folder (or anywhere near it). Thanks for your support, Gilbert P.S. meanwhile I'm trying my luck with another ulp, created by Thomas M. Sasala aka cyberreefguru <https://github.com/cyberreefguru>. He has a youtube instruction video about the usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYgCfDGU3nE. If I can get it to work I'll try to modify it in order to define a gap between the array elements rather than having to calculate the width and height of the array elements including any space between them. Op vr 31 jan. 2020 om 17:56 schreef Nathan Seidle <notifications@github.com

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: Thanks for trying out the panelizer! We use it multiple times a day, but there's some quirks because we really built it for us, not a general tool. I recommend running the ULP from the brd window. I see now there are some confusing comments at the top of the ULP (I'll remove). - The panelizer tries to ID the board color based on Logos (do I see the SparkFun logo? The SparkX logo? Or the LilyPad logo?). Don't worry if it throws that warning, the ordering instructions.txt will just have 'Red' as the default color. - The location of eagle.exe shouldn't matter. I have it in C:\Eagle v.v.v. - The location of eagle.ulp does sort of matter. I believe the panelizer loads eagle.ulp (aka your default settings) once the panel is opened up. So it's ok if eagle.ulp is not found; it just won't load your eagle settings like key assignments and layer colors. Here's how it works for me: [image: image] <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/117102/73557766-08bca380-440f-11ea-8cf3-69e54a9972fa.png> And a couple seconds later: [image: image] <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/117102/73557802-18d48300-440f-11ea-8e18-693537de4f79.png> And there should be a "XYZ-Panel.brd" file created in the 'Production' subfolder. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#25?email_source=notifications&email_token=ABKOXPECSXAF3AWRBCPA44DRARJ2TA5CNFSM4KOIZO32YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEKPJBJA#issuecomment-580817060>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABKOXPF57XM5UMW5EOQJH43RARJ2TANCNFSM4KOIZO3Q> .

Mikegyver · Answer 3 · Tue Mar 09 2021 09:46:41 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Thanks for trying out the panelizer! We use it multiple times a day, but there's some quirks because we really built it for us, not a general tool.

I recommend running the ULP from the brd window. I see now there are some confusing comments at the top of the ULP (I'll remove).
* The panelizer tries to ID the board color based on Logos (do I see the SparkFun logo? The SparkX logo? Or the LilyPad logo?). Don't worry if it throws that warning, the ordering instructions.txt will just have 'Red' as the default color.

* The location of eagle.exe shouldn't matter. I have it in C:\Eagle v.v.v.

* The location of eagle.ulp does sort of matter. I believe the panelizer loads eagle.ulp (aka your default settings) once the panel is opened up. So it's ok if eagle.ulp is not found; it just won't load your eagle settings like key assignments and layer colors.
Here's how it works for me:

And a couple seconds later:

And there should be a "XYZ-Panel.brd" file created in the 'Production' subfolder.

hi @nseidle. is it possible for u to remote to my computer. i do face this same issue.

FYI, my board size is 85mm x 37 mm. thus i intended to create panel of 2 boards. top & bottom. but the ulps don't succeed but giving the errors.

looking forward for your reply. best regards.

asgard42 · Answer 4 · Tue Nov 16 2021 17:45:03 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Maybe this has been address elsewhere, but I haven't seen it myself: I can run the .ULP to completion and it generates the Gerbers and panel .brd file. But the part numbers are not preserved in the copies, they are replicated with new part numbers. I really want the same R1, R2, C1 etc. to appear in each tiled PCB. I saw one graphic here where that was done apparently correctly, yet the panellizer ulp here does not do that. How come?

Paul Clark · Answer 5 · Tue Nov 16 2021 18:09:15 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Hi @asgard42 ,

We use the panelizer to replicate our PCBs for pick and place production. For PnP to work correctly, each component needs to have an individual identity. Our machines would not be able to cope if there were multiple R1's on a panel. Also, we do not normally include the component IDs (tNames) in our silk layer, so, for us, this isn't a problem. If you repeat the component IDs in the tPlace layer, you should be good to go.

Best wishes,
Paul