Importing PCB from Eagle

daniel_haber

Hi, I've created a PCB in Eagle and would like to export it from Eagle and then import it into OnShape so I can design a box for it. I can't find a way to do this. There seems to be an old app IDF-to-3D that no longer exists that would have done this, but I don't think it exists anymore.

Marc_Miller

@daniel_haber What version of Eagle are you using?  I'm using 9.2.2 at the moment and when viewing the BRD, under File -> Export, there is a STEP option.



Then once it finishes, you'll find the STEP file in the "Home" area of the Eagle Control Panel.  Click on that to save it somewhere so you can import it into Onshape.


It looks a bit funny how it represents component placement, but the actual PCB is there and seems like it would be fairly useful for making a case around it and mounting points. If your board has knobs/jacks/etc coming off it, not having those visualized will make it harder to know exactly where holes in the case should go though.


top of board:

bottom view, which shows my mounting holes so that would be useful.

I'm not sure if any of this would help you though @owen_sparks for milling traces, but might be useful for designing cases.

owen_sparks

Yes, bloody annoying isn't it?  I attended an Autodesk webinar to ask them how you get their Eagle PCB's into their Fusion360 so I could CNC the copper to make prototype PCB's.  Their answer was along the lines of "Yeah, that's the ultimate goal, it sure would be nice to do that some day."  I'm so very glad I bougt seats of Eagle and F360!

In the mean time it can squirt solid models of the PCB substrate and the components into 360, and a dodgy looking image/decal "representing" what the tracks would look like.  You can then take those solids, export them as step files and them import into Onshape, but alas, no tracks will be present.

What is your end goal here, enclosure design?

O.S.

Marc_Miller

@daniel_haber What version of Eagle are you using?  I'm using 9.2.2 at the moment and when viewing the BRD, under File -> Export, there is a STEP option.



Then once it finishes, you'll find the STEP file in the "Home" area of the Eagle Control Panel.  Click on that to save it somewhere so you can import it into Onshape.


It looks a bit funny how it represents component placement, but the actual PCB is there and seems like it would be fairly useful for making a case around it and mounting points. If your board has knobs/jacks/etc coming off it, not having those visualized will make it harder to know exactly where holes in the case should go though.


top of board:

bottom view, which shows my mounting holes so that would be useful.

I'm not sure if any of this would help you though @owen_sparks for milling traces, but might be useful for designing cases.

daniel_haber

@Marc_Miller Thank you!!!! I had Eagle 9.1.3 so I upgraded to 9.3 and it worked! Does look a little funny but it will be a lot easier to make an enclosure now.

joe_dunne

FYI.... there will soon be a new App Store App, that will address this topic. It looks to me to be very good. Its likely they will be looking for interested users soon. Send me an email if this is of interest to you jdunne@onshape.com. IDX..... ProSTEP approach.

owen_sparks

@Marc_Miller - Thanks for the heads up!

@joe_dunne - Email sent

Cheers, Owen S.