Panel - Board Size Calculation Tool

PCB Panelizer Tool | Bay Area Circuits

AD21 Project Releaser

 Example:

Create Outjobs.

Add Sections, i.e. ENG, MEC

Rename Target Revision:

Edit Source Data

FAB

ASY

Repeat for ENG and MEC Outputs

Select Prepare . . .  and Wait for it.

That's it !

Automatic Sheet Numbering

Tools > Annotation > Number Schematic Sheets > 

Check Automatic Sheet Numbering

That's it !

AutoCAD DXF Versions

The following are the different version codes for AutoCAD drawings:

MC0.0 - DWG Release 1.1
AC1.2 - DWG Release 1.2
AC1.4 - DWG Release 1.4
AC1.50 - DWG Release 2.0
AC2.10 - DWG Release 2.10
AC1002 - DWG Release 2.5
AC1003 - DWG Release 2.6
AC1004 - DWG Release 9
AC1006 - DWG Release 10
AC1009 - DWG Release 11/12 (LT R1/R2)
AC1012 - DWG Release 13 (LT95)
AC1014 - DWG Release 14, 14.01 (LT97/LT98)
AC1015 - DWG AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002
AC1018 - DWG AutoCAD 2004/2005/2006
AC1021 - DWG AutoCAD 2007/2008/2009
AC1024 - DWG AutoCAD 2010/2011/2012
AC1027 - DWG AutoCAD 2013/2014/2015/2016/2017
AC1032 - DWG AutoCAD 2018/2019/2020

To view the codes of a particular DXF file, open it within Notepad or other text editor.

Examine the first eight lines of text.

As shown below this DXF data is AC1015 and was exported from AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002

  0

SECTION

  2

HEADER

  9

$ACADVER

  1

AC1015

The message shown below popped up while importing AC1032 DXF Data.

AD21 does NOT support AutoCAD 2018/2019/2020 DXF data.

That's it  !

Corsair K55 Macro Keys

To Program a K55 Macro Key 

Press MR > G1 > Hotkeys > MR

 

G1 = Grid Settings
G2 = CTRL+E   (Snap Objects)

G3 = SHIFT+E  (Snap Layers)

G4 = SHIFT+S  (Single Layer Mode - Toggle)

G5 = 3D View CTRL+ALT+3

G6 = 2D View CTRL+ALT+2

How to: Customize onboard lighting and macros on the K55 RGB PRO gaming keyboard – Corsair

Example G1 Key Macro Recording:

1. Press the M Button to begin Recording. M Led will flash slowly.
2. Start Pressing Keys. (50 keys max) M Led will flash rapidly.
3. Press the M button to to End Recording.
4. Select Macro Key G1.

Example Lighting (My Favorite Setting):

FN + 8 Same Color all Zones

FN + 3 Blue

That's it !

Un-Linking a Project from A365

How to Un-Manage a Managed Project? - Altium Discussion Forums

Thank you Ted !

For a schematic document:

1. Create a new blank schematic library and blank PCB library (File»New»Library»Schematic Library/PCB Library).
2. Open an existing schematic in your project and create a new schematic library from the placed parts. (Design»Make Schematic Library).
3. In the temporary library just created in the previous step, open the library panel and copy all symbols into your library created in step 2(This will remove the vault link). http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Creating+Library+Components+Tutorial#CreatingLibraryComponentsTutorial-CopyingComponentsfromOtherLibraries
4. Save the Schematic Library.
5. In the PCB document, create a new PCB Library. (Design»Make PCB Library)
6. Copy the footprint from the temporary project library(using the PCB library panel) into your library.
7. Save your PCB library.
8. In one of your schematic documents, open the SCH List.
9. Set filter to Edit, All Objects, from Open Documents of the Same Project, and to include only Parts.
10. Select all Part entries, and change the Library column to the name of your newly saved Schematic library.
11. Execute Tools -> Update From Libraries.
12. Set proper settings in the configuration window, then click Finish.
13. Execute ECO.

For a PCB document:
The following requires the attached script to be used.
1. Unzip the attached file
2. Open the script Project (*.PrjScr) file in Altium Designer
3. Open the PCB (*.PcbDoc) that needs to be updated
4. Select the components that need to be updated, or Ctrl + A for all
5. From the menu, select: DXP » Run Script...
6. Select the replace_library_paths_ckbox script, click OK
7. In the script dialog, check boxes for the fields to overwrite
8. Type in the text to place in those fields. The PCB Library field should be set to the name of the new PCB Library (*.PcbLib) file
9. Click the button: Update Comps
10. Close the dialog. The path and information have now been updated

This will unlink the components in both schematic and PCB documents from the above procedure.

My 2 Cents

All the above reminds me that it might be a good idea to have an Escape Plan.

That's it !

Altium > Solidworks Issues

I have found a workaround, but it is a bit inconvenient:

Open just the STEP-file from a board in Solidworks and save it using Pack and Go where one can add an extra suffix. 

But this is a somewhat time-consuming extra step that should not be necessary.

Then bring that step model into the Solidworks project.

Export to STEP with suffix does not add suffix to extruded parts, casing problems in SolidWorks - Altium Discussion Forums

Thank you per !

Another workaround would be to date/time stamp the board using special strings.

Example of using a Current date stamp

=PCB_PN+' '+CurrentDate

Example of using a Current date / time stamp

=PCB_PN+' '+CurrentDate +' '+CurrentTime

That's it !

How to Clear Windows 10 Quick Access History in File Explorer

 How to Clear Windows 10 Quick Access History in File Explorer - By Brian Burgess

Big Dump Crash Reports for Altium (X2.exe)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Big Crash Dumps for Altium X2.exe

;references:

;https://forum.live.altium.com/#posts/248220/779606

;https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/wer/collecting-user-mode-dumps

;When the X2.exe application crashes, go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps

;Zip (Compress) and upload to a Cloud Drive

;Send a file share link to samples@altium.com 

;Using a text editor create a X2dump.reg file and add the three lines shown below. Save the file, then double click on file to add the key to the Windows Registry

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\X2.exe]

"DumpType"=dword:00000002

"DumpCount"=dword:00000003

Special Strings in OutJobs

Examples:

=FAB_NO + ' REV-' + FAB_REV + '_FAB'

=ASY_NO + ' REV-' + ASY_REV + '_ENG'

=ASY_NO + ' REV-' + ASY_REV + '_ASY'

=ASY_NO + ' REV-' + ASY_REV + '_MEC'

=ASY_NO + ' REV-' + ASY_REV + '_DRC'

=ProjectName + '_ENG'

=ProjectName + '_FAB'

=ProjectName + '_ASY'

=ProjectName + '_MEC'

=ProjectName + '_DRC'

Examples: Step Model File with Date Time Stamped Suffix

=PCB_PN+'_'+CurrentDate +'_'+CurrentTime

=ASY_NO+'_'+CurrentDate +'_'+CurrentTime

That's it !

Draftsman - Move Board View Title

To move the Title try changing the Component Display Properties

Component Body > Assembly Drawing > then Select and Move the Title

That's it !

Using NetTies

NetTie Example

SCH

PCB

Design Rule

Using the Clearance Boundary 

That's it !

USB2.0 Tips - Spayed Connectors

Controlled Impedance on 2 Layer boards / 2 layer board with bottom plane - Altium Discussion Forums

See Don's Recommendations

Spayed USB Connector Molex 54819-0519 

If you are using any discrete EMI suppression components connected to the USB leads then replacing them with an all-in-one solution such as the 4-ball BGA USB 2.0 filter NXP IP3319CX6,135 will improve your results.  This is the one that I use.

That's it !

About Project Physical Documents and All SCH Documents

In the Project Outjob there are options (Project Physical Documents or All SCH Documents) to generate Schematics.

'Project Physical Documents' will show Not-Fitted Variants and final reference designators for reused sheets in hierarchical projects.  

'All SCH Documents' prints the document as seen it in the Schematic Editor tab.

'All SCH Documents' will NOT display the Variant (red X) Not-Fitted parts.

Sheet Numbering Issues and Workarounds

'Project Physical Documents' will generate schematics with sheet numbers ordered by document name and will show the red X hash for the variant. 

Example:

ADC.SchDoc  (Sheet 1)
BAT.SchDoc   (Sheet 2)

CAN.SchDoc  (Sheet 3)

'All SCH Documents'  will generate schematics with sheet numbers ordered by sheet numbers assigned using Tools > Annotation > Number Schematic Sheets . . .

Again 'All SCH Documents' will NOT show the red X hash for variants.

Work around for displaying Red X Variants with expected sheet numbers.

Prefix the SchDoc sheets with numbered names in the preferred order.

Example:

01_CAN.SchDoc  (Sheet 1)

02_BAT.SchDoc   (Sheet 2)

03_ADC.SchDoc  (Sheet 3)

Workaround Caveats:

Adding another New SchDoc sheet to a project will require renaming sheets if the New.SchDoc is to be inserted between existing sheets.

Example: Insert New.SchDoc

01_CAN.SchDoc  (Sheet 1)

02_New.SchDoc  (Sheet 2)

03_BAT.SchDoc   (Sheet 3)

04_ADC.SchDoc  (Sheet 4)

Adding another New SchDoc sheet to a project will NOT require renaming sheets if the New.SchDoc is Appended to the existing sheets. (last sheet).

Example:

01_CAN.SchDoc  (Sheet 1)

02_BAT.SchDoc   (Sheet 2)

03_ADC.SchDoc  (Sheet 3)

04_New.SchDoc  (Sheet 4)

Related Online References:

Print Schematic PDF - Altium Discussion Forums

Showing Do Not Fit part in the schematic Editor - Altium Discussion Forums

That's it !

Component Unions That Won't Break - Bug Fix

Select All Component > Make Union > Break All

Thank you Olivier

A365 - Managed Components - User Options

All > Right Click on Headings > Apply Column Visibility to Child Categories

click on image to view - Panels > Components > All > Right Click

Example. . .

Make Value Parameter Visible when Placing Parts - Panels > Explorer

Clear Cache

To Clear the locally Cached Managed Libraries on your machine.

Preferences > Data Management > Servers > Known Servers > Clear Cache

That's it !

Parameters Auto Positions - Fix

Symbol Library

Value

Voltage

Autoposition Unchecked 

Left Justified

Allow Synchronization with Database

See Altium Forum

How to stop AD from resetting all parameter positions in schematic when changing visibility of one parameter?

"When in the symbol editor, and with nothing selected, press the O key for "Options", a menu will pop up with Document Options... at the top of the list. Click on Document Options... (the fast way is to press the O key and then the D key) You can also get there by the menu as Tools -> Document Options...

This will bring up the Library Options in the Properties panel. At the very bottom there is a check box for "Show Comment/Designator". Check this checkbox. The Comment string and the Designator string will now display in the symbol editor if they contain data in their values.

Now, in the symbol editor with the Comment and Designator displayed, you can select the Comment and/or the Designator string(s) and set the Autoposition, the Justification, Font and other settings in the Properties panel. You can also position them and they will keep that position, if they have Autoposition unchecked, when the symbol is placed in a schematic."

Thank you Thomas !

To remove the Position Dots

DXP Preferences > Schematic > Graphical Editing > uncheck 'Mark Manual Parameters'

That's It !

A365 BOM Templates

 Local BOM Templates are stored at: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD20

Click to View

That' it !

Altium 365, Git and DBLIB libraries

YouTube: Git Parts for Altium Workflow

My preferred workflow for remote collaboration is Altium 365, TortoiseGit and DBLIB libraries.

Contact me at Parts for a demo of using Altium 365 with DBLib Libraries.

That's it !

Amazon RDS - Remote Hosted MySQL Database Libraries and Altium 365

Dispersed teams working remotely can easily collaborate using Altium 365 and a MySQL Database Library hosted on Amazon RDS for their circuit board design projects.

A robust remote library solution can easily be created by using an Altium 365 Git based project to share symbols and footprints and an Amazon RDS MySQL database for the parametric data.

"MySQL is the world's most popular open source relational database and Amazon RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale MySQL deployments in the cloud. With Amazon RDS, you can deploy scalable MySQL servers in minutes with cost-efficient and resizable hardware capacity.

Amazon RDS for MySQL frees you up to focus on application development by managing time-consuming database administration tasks including backups, software patching, monitoring, scaling and replication.

Amazon RDS supports MySQL Community Edition versions 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0 which means that the code, applications, and tools you already use today can be used with Amazon RDS."

Source link: Amazon RDS for MySQL – Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Contact Parts for a Free demo of a MySQL database library for Altium hosted on Amazon.

That's it !