pcad question

[TheM]

One question related to P-CAD (2004).

Say you've created a small PCB board in P-CAD using copper pour
for large ground and would like to multiply the board for
stencil and pcb manufacturing.

The problem is that copy-paste does not work as you loose the net
information and copper pour is lost. You basically have to re-assign
ground net for the copper pour for every small pcb, which can be
time consuming.

Is there a way to lock each individual board so the copper pour stays put?

I've tried just about everything with no success.

M

 

[qrk]

One question related to P-CAD (2004).

Say you've created a small PCB board in P-CAD using copper pour
for large ground and would like to multiply the board for
stencil and pcb manufacturing.

The problem is that copy-paste does not work as you loose the net
information and copper pour is lost. You basically have to re-assign
ground net for the copper pour for every small pcb, which can be
time consuming.

Is there a way to lock each individual board so the copper pour stays put?

I've tried just about everything with no success.

M

Are you trying to make a panel (many copies of the same board)? If so,
the easiest way is do the panel in a Gerber editor. If this is for a
commercial job, have the PCB manufacturer panel the board for you.
Give them a drawing how you want the panel done. Be sure to specify
where you want the tooling holes and fiducials on the panel.

 

[TheM]

Are you trying to make a panel (many copies of the same board)? If so,
the easiest way is do the panel in a Gerber editor. If this is for a
commercial job, have the PCB manufacturer panel the board for you.
Give them a drawing how you want the panel done. Be sure to specify
where you want the tooling holes and fiducials on the panel.

I know this can be done and my pcb guy is doing it in gerber, however
later I need to submit the same pcb for stencil to another guy and there
I get in trouble...

M

 

[Brad Velander]

Typically you get a copy of the fabrication Gerber files (panelized, top
layer, bottom layer, both layers) back from your fabricator in order to pass
them along to the stencil supplier. It's that simple.
Or you can make a single one up file for your stencil supplier and then
give them the same information on panelization you gave your fabricator. If
your fabricator alters anything from your original panelization details, be
sure they are also fed back to the stencil fabricator.

 

[TheM]

Typically you get a copy of the fabrication Gerber files (panelized, top layer, bottom layer, both layers) back from your
fabricator in order to pass them along to the stencil supplier. It's that simple.
Or you can make a single one up file for your stencil supplier and then give them the same information on panelization you gave
your fabricator. If your fabricator alters anything from your original panelization details, be sure they are also fed back to the
stencil fabricator.

Well, right now that is not the case, but I suppose I could ask for the files.

I wondered whether there is a work-around where I could do this myself,
but I guess pcad does not easily allow this.

Thanks for the feedback/help.

M

 

[Marra]

In my CAD system I would have just fattened up the ground line as much
as possible then step and repeating wouldnt be a problem.

I am not a lover of copper pours or powerplane generators as they can
sometimes leave narrow slivers of copper that can move and short
things out.

www.murtonpikesystems.co.uk

 

[Mike Harrison]

One question related to P-CAD (2004).

Say you've created a small PCB board in P-CAD using copper pour
for large ground and would like to multiply the board for
stencil and pcb manufacturing.

The problem is that copy-paste does not work as you loose the net
information and copper pour is lost. You basically have to re-assign
ground net for the copper pour for every small pcb, which can be
time consuming.

Is there a way to lock each individual board so the copper pour stays put?

I've tried just about everything with no success.

M

Yes, this is a PITA with PCAD2004 .

PCAD 2006 has a 'paste circuit' feature which will do exactly what you want, but with 2004, the only
way I've found is to rejoin all the nodes on the pour net, and it is very easy to miss the odd pin
or two....

ISTR a while ago managing to do it using gerber import (which imported the pour as its constituent
lines) - This didn't fully work for me as I was doing a layout that needed to be printed, and the
process lost the pad holes which are essential for hand drilling, however for gerber output it might
work. However I'm not sure how you'd handle the drill data.

 

[TheM]

Yes, this is a PITA with PCAD2004 .

PCAD 2006 has a 'paste circuit' feature which will do exactly what you want, but with 2004, the only
way I've found is to rejoin all the nodes on the pour net, and it is very easy to miss the odd pin
or two....

Now this is the answer I've been waiting for all along, thanks! Yes, with 2004 its only doable for a very
small PCB with few iterations of the same PCB or it gets very tiresom.

ISTR a while ago managing to do it using gerber import (which imported the pour as its constituent
lines) - This didn't fully work for me as I was doing a layout that needed to be printed, and the
process lost the pad holes which are essential for hand drilling, however for gerber output it might
work. However I'm not sure how you'd handle the drill data.

My PCB guy knows how to do this, I've asked him to provide his "multiplied" gerber files for my last PCB
and I'll see if I can use them to create stencil from there.

M