Schematic

Congratulations! You've just finished producing all the components needed to produce a continuity tester. At this point, you've completed the most annoying part of the tutorial and now your ready for the fun stuff; putting it all together. Before we can do this, lets set up the Schematic editor Schematic icon.

Setting up the Schematic Editor

First of all, almost everything we are doing here will be in measurements of mil ( =.001 in.), so go to view> units and select mil. Next we need the schematic editor to use the library file we created in the component editor. Go to Library> Library setup and either type folder path or navigate your way to the folder that contains your component file (FileName.eli). Now click close. You are now set up to use the editor.

Library Setup window

Understanding the Tools

Unlike the first part of this tutorial, I won't be giving you a step by step instructions, instead I will introduce you to the tools of the schematic editor and then ask you to reproduce a schematic which is shown at the bottom of this page.

Place Wire Tool icon and Edit Mode icon

Reminder: To get out of any selected tool, just press "escape."

Place Wire Tool

This tool allows you to connect one component to another. Just click at the end points of any component to make a connection. If more than two components connect with each other, any component after that can connect anywhere along the path. Also when you click on the end point of any unconnected component, this is the default tool that is selected.

Edit Mode

When you make connection, make sure to avoid overlapping lines as it will make things confusing and often results in errors. This is where edit mode comes in hand. Use this tool to move any of the lines you've created.

Rotate Tool

Just as the name indicates, this tool rotates the component. Although positioning doesn't matter in the schematic, making the schematic readable is important. To rotate the component, click on the component and press "control" and "r" together.

Setting Values

Certain components such as the resistor have values that describe their behavior. To give a component a value right click on the component and select properties. In the properties box, you will see a section in the main tab for you to enter a value in. Showing Values:

When creating a schematic it's important to show all significant information. This information includes pin number when the component doesn't clearly indicate the physical alignment (such as the switch and SMT chip), the component's value and its reference designator(RefDes). To show and hide the pin number, right click on the component and go to pin numbers to choose whether to show or not. To show the reference designator or value, right click on the component and select properties and select the Marking tab. In that window you can show two things and choose where to position them.

Don't forget to save your work!!! You may need it later.

The Schematic

Bellow is the schematic which you will reproduce. I've colored the traces so any confusion would be avoided (NOTE: the editor doesn't do this, I just edited the photo).

The Schematic

In Lab Version

Export Version

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