BOM Management Tools for PCB Manufacturing Between the mid-1980s and late 1990s, Spy magazine published a monthly “Separated at Birth” column/pictorial that would pair two selected photos of unrelated celebrities, cartoon characters, or movie characters. The authors would then point out similar physical characteristics from each photo. Mentally picture a space alien from a popular movie paired with a sultry singer to gain some appreciation for their humor. Separated at Birth? Well… Kinda Read Article PCB Material Selection: How Substrate Properties Impact PCB Performance From the early 15th century until the 17th century, artists used the Flemish masters’ method to create life-like paintings. This process begins with a pencil, charcoal, or ink pen drawing and continues with the imprimatura—or the first transparent, olive-tinged stain of color. Then, the method moves to the first umber underpainting, sanding, second umber underpainting, sanding, and a monochromatic underpainting. Each underpainting layer focuses Read Article How to Avoid PCB Component Failures and Workaround Them Probably, the single thing that drew me to pursue a technical career was the existence of laws that stipulated if you follow the same procedure then you will get the same results. I have always taken comfort in having that security for my work. However, there is another law that at times supersedes all others. That, of course, is Murphy’s law, which states “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” At times it seems that Murphy’s law applies Read Article Escape the Pain of a Gerber Files Viewer and Invest in a 3D PCB Editor As the design of printed circuit boards grows more challenging with flex, rigid-flex, RF, and other technologies, it is becoming more important than ever to be able to see exactly what it is that you are designing. Then compounded by shorter design cycles and fewer prototype builds the need for full verification of the design before manufacturing has become a necessity. Thankfully PCB design tools have kept pace with different ways to view and Read Article Annotate Reference Designators With Custom Global Properties Having a system to find many similar items in a short amount of time can be helpful in staying organized. Everybody has a silverware drawer and most are organized with caddys that divide the flatware into forks, knives, and spoons. Reference designators are the unique identifiers on a PCB for each and every component or free pad on the design. Best design practice is to number the reference designators consecutively on the PCB to allow easy Read Article Generate and Export Gerber File in Altium Designer: the Language of PCB Manufacturing It is always exciting to travel to a new country and explore the culture, sample the food, and meet new people. On these trips, it seems like every day is an adventure that ends with greater understanding, an altered palate, or new friends. However, to make the most of the experience, it is great to learn to speak the language. Otherwise, you may wind up spending most of your time in a state of confusion. This is similar to the confusion that can Read Article 50 Draftsman - Sneak Preview: ADSCvid Watch Video 41 Unlimited Mechanical Layers - Sneak Preview Watch Video What's New In Altium Designer Webinar July 24 Altium Webinar: July 24th In case you missed our Altium Designer® live webinar, no worries. You can catch up here with the video recording and presentation slides. If you’re not a fan of videos I’ll try my best to summarize in the webinar notes below. Most of the key takeaways will be the same as the may webinar but do take a look at the questions as they’ll be different. For future webinars, if there’s something you’d like to see add it to the Read Article PCB Stack-up Design Best Practices with Rick Hartley Looking for help with your PC board stack up? Get expert tips on PC Board Stack-up Best Practices with SI guru Rick Hartley on this episode of the OnTrack Podcast. Read Article Your Advanced BOM Can Integrate PCB Design With Vacation Time Anyone who has ever put together a gift for their children knows the importance of quality instructions. The experience that stands out most in my mind is when I assembled a Foosball table for my children late one Christmas Eve. The pieces didn’t fit as they should, I was tired, and most frustratingly of all; some of them in the instructions didn’t match up with what came in the box. I was so angry at the Foosball table manufacturers and their Read Article PCB Creator's Digital Library Management for Circuit Boards: More Than a Few Shelves When you hear the word “components”, it’s natural to think about ICs, LEDs, resistors, and all the other electronic hardware that goes into building a PCB. But in terms of PCB design software, there is a lot of information that goes into any component. Every component has an associated symbol, footprint, pin arrangement, and other properties that are used by your PCB design software. With so many components available on the market and with Read Article PCB Design Software: Choosing A Unified Platform for PCB Design Priority Having the right tool for complicated and intricate tasks facilitates success. Having the wrong tool invites frustration. Rummaging through my tool chest the other day found me selecting the only tool available. Hours into the job with each step a struggle, I considered my hasty choice. It would have been better to spend a little money and order the superior tool. Spending the money for a superior EDA tool facilitates progressive and intelligent Read Article Editing Multiple Components Anywhere in Footprint Circuit board design has changed a lot over the years, and the way we work with library components has shifted as well. Originally, PCB designers created library components by laying down a sticker or “dolly” on a sheet of mylar on a drafting board. Later on, as designers migrated to CAD tools, the components were built using those same CAD tools. Those first tools didn’t offer much assistance to designers and you had to be really good at Read Article Ted Pawela, Altium COO, Shares Vision for the Future Curious about the future of electronics design? Listen to this week's OnTrack episode with Ted Pawela, Altium COO, discuss Altium's mission to transform the industry for PCB designers. 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