Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Mounting Holes - Generating 3D CAD File - YouTube
Altium Designer - Generating 3D CAD File - You Tube
Are your mounting holes shown in your Altium 3D Step Model?
Robert Feranec has a work around to fix missing mounting holes in the Altium 3D Step Models.
Options have been added to Export the Mechanical Mounting Holes in the Outjob Configuration.
Are your mounting holes shown in your Altium 3D Step Model?
Robert Feranec has a work around to fix missing mounting holes in the Altium 3D Step Models.
- Place Circle on any Layer
- Set Radius for Hole Size
- Tools > Convert > Create Board Cut Out From Selected Primitives
- Delete the Circle
- Ignore DRC Errors for the Board Cut Outs
Options have been added to Export the Mechanical Mounting Holes in the Outjob Configuration.
Note that the above screen shot is from the output job in AD(13.3).
As shown below the options for Exporting the Step file are different if you export the step model from the file menu selection 'Save Copy As'.
Why are there two different option dialogs for exporting the step models ?
The output job step model export method includes the mounting holes when selected as shown above in the first screen shot.
I reported this as bug #2890 back in May of 2013, the bug has 4 votes, so it will not likely get fixed. If you want it fixed cast your vote at bug #2890
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Parts List - Arena Solutions
PartsList Arena Solutions
Import your PCB BOM. Let PartsList fill in the blanks. Documentation complete.
Import your PCB BOM. Let PartsList fill in the blanks. Documentation complete.
Live Supplier Data - BOM Generation - English documentation - The Altium Wiki
Live Supplier Data - BOM Generation - English documentation - The Altium Wiki
Altium has live links to supplier data. I personally do not place a high value on that feature, here is why.
My Altium DBLib database table already has 32 parameters before adding any pricing data and inventory data. I really don't need the extra work or the bloated library.
I have better options, like letting someone else do the job at no cost for me. I simply upload my BOM to one of my favorites suppliers and quickly get a fully costed BOM with availability, price, and end of life-cycle issues addressed in a report.
I have a few years of experience as buyer and planner for board projects. Experience has taught me that the inventory I found yesterday may not be available tomorrow.
More than once I have seen all available inventory vanish only a couple days after verifying availability. Maybe this is where the live link could be useful. But what happens two days later I release the project is anybody's guess.
Are you really worried about where you are going to find those 1K Ohm resistors or 1uF capacitors? I think not.
Regarding costing, an 0402 cap in 10K quantity is going to cost ~ $0.05. And that 1K resistor is going to cost ~ $.005 in volume. The cost for these jelly bean parts can quickly be estimated in a spreadsheet.
My real concerns are for the higher cost and higher risk parts, like connectors, micro-processors, flash memory, etc... which typically only account for only a few items on the BOM.
After a project is released from engineering to production the life-cycle and cost are normally tracked in a PLM and MRP system, not Altium.
Conclusion: I can not justify the time and effort required to add inventory pricing data to Altium libraries.
Altium has live links to supplier data. I personally do not place a high value on that feature, here is why.
My Altium DBLib database table already has 32 parameters before adding any pricing data and inventory data. I really don't need the extra work or the bloated library.
I have better options, like letting someone else do the job at no cost for me. I simply upload my BOM to one of my favorites suppliers and quickly get a fully costed BOM with availability, price, and end of life-cycle issues addressed in a report.
I have a few years of experience as buyer and planner for board projects. Experience has taught me that the inventory I found yesterday may not be available tomorrow.
More than once I have seen all available inventory vanish only a couple days after verifying availability. Maybe this is where the live link could be useful. But what happens two days later I release the project is anybody's guess.
Are you really worried about where you are going to find those 1K Ohm resistors or 1uF capacitors? I think not.
Regarding costing, an 0402 cap in 10K quantity is going to cost ~ $0.05. And that 1K resistor is going to cost ~ $.005 in volume. The cost for these jelly bean parts can quickly be estimated in a spreadsheet.
My real concerns are for the higher cost and higher risk parts, like connectors, micro-processors, flash memory, etc... which typically only account for only a few items on the BOM.
After a project is released from engineering to production the life-cycle and cost are normally tracked in a PLM and MRP system, not Altium.
Conclusion: I can not justify the time and effort required to add inventory pricing data to Altium libraries.
Altium Libraries
Database Library
Download Altium DBlib Library - Parts
Symbol and Footprint Libraries
Libs_CAndreatta 2013-02-14.zip
Libs_RRutledge 2013-01-30.zip
Footprints and Step Models
PCB Libraries Expert IPC Standard Footprints
Altium Content:
Altium Community Libraries - Altium Design Content
Altium Legacy Libraries - Download Site
Open Source Altium:
Celestial Library Database.DbLib
That's it !
Download Altium DBlib Library - Parts
Symbol and Footprint Libraries
Libs_CAndreatta 2013-02-14.zip
Libs_RRutledge 2013-01-30.zip
Footprints and Step Models
PCB Libraries Expert IPC Standard Footprints
Altium Content:
Altium Community Libraries - Altium Design Content
Altium Legacy Libraries - Download Site
Open Source Altium:
Celestial Library Database.DbLib
That's it !
Thursday, September 20, 2012
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