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Explore content from blog posts to technical white papers gathered together for your convenience. All written by Altium's community of PCB design experts.

Put the Power of a BOM Template to Work for You One of the dictionary definitions of the word “template” is; anything that determines or serves as a pattern or a model. Without realizing it, I bet that we all rely on a lot of templates in our lives. I have certain document templates that I use for work, and my wife has hundreds of patterns that she uses when sewing. I even have a designated pattern set for my Christmas decorations so that I can quickly put them up and then easily take them Read Article
Remote BOM Access Makes Work as Easy as Hitting a Button It seems like you can’t purchase any electronic device anymore without it coming with a remote control. TVs, radios, and computers all have them, and you can even find them on fireplaces and air conditioners. This is not a complaint, I love having the ability to control things remotely. I have enough years behind me that I remember having to get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel. In my opinion the more remote control the better off Read Article
From Tape-ups to ActiveRoute, a discussion with Charles Pfeil Charles Pfeil and Judy Warner take a look back on the days of manual design, before exploring today’s very different eCAD competitive landscape and the tools that take designers to the next level. Join the conversation on PCB design, autorouters and the future of software design tools.Leave comments and questions below for feedback we can use to improve the podcast and please remember to subscribe. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode Read Article
Multi-board Design, a discussion with Ben Jordan Join Altium’s Judy Warner and Ben Jordan for a conversation on Multiboard PCB design. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights: Many different product areas are being impacted by developments in Electronics, opening new frontiers - beauty products, wearables Electronics are replacing things that traditionally were not electronics Electronics product development are increasingly driven by Read Article
Jeremy Blum at Shaper Tools and the CNC Router Revolutionizing Hardware Design Jeremy Blum is working at Shaper, reinventing hand held power tools starting with the revolutionary CNC router, Shaper Origin. Join Altium’s Judy Warner and Jeremy for a conversation on making tools for making things. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights: Shaper is a human in the loop company CNC, or computer numerical control varies in implementation. Large CNCs can be Desktop size Read Article
Flex Cost Drivers and Next Gen Technologists, a conversation with Tara Dunn from OMNI PCB More than ever, people design with Flex and Rigid Flex for the very first time as industries drive for smaller, more user-friendly devices. Join Altium's Judy Warner and OmniPCB CEO, Tara Dunn for a conversation on industry trends and cost drivers. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights: What is driving growth in the market? Space, weight, packaging. Flex is everywhere especially Read Article
The PCB Design Podcast with Judy Warner Listen to the new PCB Design Podcast featuring Judy Warner and special guests, brought to you by Altium and the OnTrack Community. Listen to all the episodes here or on your favorite Podcast app. Feel free to comment below if you can't find us on your favorite platform and we'll make sure you can! Listen to all the latest OnTrack episodes below. Latest Episodes: Trade In Your Outdated PCB Design Tool & Unlock 45% OFF Altium today! Click here to Read Article
For Your DC Power Application, Which Switching Power Supply Topology is Right? We often have our old-timer pioneers to thank for laying down the groundwork for our continued success and future growth. These old-school designers had nothing more than theory and confidence to drive their designs, or more specifically, to drive their failures. But as stated by a multitude of wise individuals, each failure is nothing more than a discovery of how not to do something. However, with the discoveries of failures also come Read Article
Embedded RF Design: Ceramic Chip Antennas vs. PCB Trace Antennas Over the years, there’s been a large rise in café culture which has left many of the newer cafés looking for ways of adding a creative interest to their store. Café and bookstore hybrids, gourmet coffee with baristas that have an expertise over regional coffee beans, and even cat cafés have all been twists I’ve seen pop-up. When it comes down to it, people are going to cafés for a few key reasons though: to get a drink or snack, to meet and talk Read Article
PCB Chassis Might Keep Your PCB Design From Exhausting Itself The world of racing is something that both fascinates and eludes me. On one hand, it’s thrilling to watch cars that have been fine-tuned to the most minute weight and aerodynamic requirements go flying down a road or around a track. On the other hand, from my experience, the majority of thrill from the sport largely comes from the accumulation of narratives and knowledge beforehand. I don’t care so much about actually watching the cars run smooth Read Article
SpaceX and Other Advanced Technologies Require Multi Board PCB Innovations When I was in middle school I used to love to build and fly model rockets. We had a rocket club at school and except for the number of rockets that I littered the trees with, it was a lot of fun. One thing was certain though, although the rockets we launched went up, no one knew exactly where they might come down. Suspended by their parachutes (assuming that those chutes actually deployed as intended), they might land anywhere. Recently I watched Read Article
Even Simple Schematic Drawing Software is Better than Pencil and Paper My mother used to clean all of her dishes in the sink with soap and water, and then put them in the dishwasher to finish the job. Perhaps when she was young those older dishwashers weren’t as good at cleaning dishes as they were later on. Years later when I was married and was cleaning up the kitchen, my wife looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “Why are you doing the same job twice,” she asked? It was the way that I had always done it, of Read Article
Left Hand Robotics Autonomous Snowbot Judy Warner: Shane, so nice to meet you. Before we get started, I just had to ask what the story is behind your unique name? Shane Zinner: In this area, there was an American Indian Chief Niwot or Left Hand (-ed) (c. 1825–1864) who was a tribal leader of the Southern Arapaho people and played an important part in the history of Colorado. Many 'Left Hand' things, such as Left Hand Canyon, Left Hand Brewery, and the town of Niwot, Colorado were Read Article
James MacKinnon’s Career Path to NASA Judy Warner: James, please share a little bit about your academic background and how you learned to design PCBs. James MacKinnon: In my junior and senior year at the University of Florida I had some classes where we were required to do some fairly simple PCB design. Basically, if you don't pass those classes, then you don't graduate. And since it's an EE-type class, they want you to create a PCB. They were simple circuits for junior design Read Article
Phalanx, not Failure: PCB Shielding to Protect Your Design During 7 B.C., Greek soldiers—or hoplites--carried a large, concave, circular pcb shield called the hoplon. Made from bronze and wood, the hoplon or Argive shield protected hoplites from chin to knee and—when overlapped—became the basis for the Greek phalanx. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ethiopians used their shields when fighting against an invading Italian army. The constant banging on the shields by the Ethiopians mingled with war Read Article
How Blind, Buried and Through-Hole Vias Can Impact Your PCB Design Growing up, I was obsessed with all things Super Mario, but honestly, who wasn’t. Specifically, I was a sucker for the Super Nintendo, old school version. Bounding from platform to platform, tossing pixelated turtle shells, saving princesses… what a life. One of the best, albeit strangest, of the game, no doubt, was jetting in and out of those little green tubes that were seemingly all over the place. Who made them? Why were they even there Read Article
Annular Rings and Multilayer PCB Design: Stay Within Your Tolerances One of my high school teachers had a pretty successful business for when he wasn’t teaching: he harvested maple syrup. I learned that a bit more goes into the process than simply taking the maple syrup from the tree after tapping a hole into it. You’ve got to let it rest and let some of it evaporate so you can distill the maple syrup into the tasty, flavorful product that will then go onto all of your pancakes. While there’s a whole process Read Article