Design Libraries

Count the Cost With Rigid Flex PCB Cost Comparison

Count the Cost With Rigid Flexible PCB Cost Comparison When my oldest boy bought his first car I was worried that he might have made a mistake. Sadly my worries turned out to be true and he was stuck with a lemon. I believe that his exact words were; “It seemed like such a good deal at the time”. He thought that paying less money for an older car would be a benefit, and of course, his actual experience was the exact opposite. The old expression of “count the cost” before you buy applies to everything Read Article

Altium Vault Streamlines Product Development Process With Early Access to Component Sourcing and Costing

Altium Vault Streamlines Product Development Process With Early Access to Component Sourcing and Costing Instead of Placeholders The product development process for printed circuit assemblies is highly dependent on complete Bills of Material. Complete Bills of Material list the PCB along with all components soldered or adhered onto the board to make the assembly. Components are unavailable early in the product development cycle because EDA libraries are antiquated and lack current parts information when circuit designers are drawing schematics. To stay on the development’s Read Article

Hidden Library Attributes, Filtering BOMs, Adding Daughter Boards and Running DRC in 3D with Randy Burcham

Hidden Library Attributes, Filtering BOMs, Adding Daughter Boards and Running DRC in 3D with Randy Burcham . Read Article

94 V-0 Rating

The 94 V-0 Circuit Board Rating There are a lot of elements to consider when you are designing a PCB. One consideration is making sure your PCB meets approved UL flammability ratings. If you need to design a PCB with a 94 V-0 rating, which means the specimen cannot burn for more than 10 seconds. When working with circuits, you have to choose the right materials to make sure your PCB indeed receives a 94 V-0 rating. Altium Designer has all the tools and resources you need to Read Article

AltiumLive 2018 Panel Discussion with Experts from PCB Supply Chain

AltiumLive 2018 Panel Discussion with Experts from PCB Supply Chain Didn't get to attend AltiumLive this year? Check out the Panel Discussion from industry experts across the Printed Circuit Board supply chain. Watch or Listen to AltiumLive 2018 Panel Discussion now. Read Article

Choosing Replacement Components With an Integrated Library

Find Replacement Electronic Components With an Integrated Library Much as we would like, designing a new product or system is not without its hiccups. Designs, functionality, and component changes may be made at the last minute, forcing design modification or component replacement. Replacement circuit components or replacement can require thorough knowledge of your circuit boards. Repairing a circuit board is often more than finding a circuit breaking. Electrical equipment and service panel tinkering can go so Read Article

Integrated Design Software vs. Access Databases For Bills of Materials

PCB Manufacturing: Access Databases vs. Integrated Design Software For Bills of Materials Building databases in programs like Access is easy enough. Access databases deserve a lot of credit for helping organize tons of information in one place. But adapting these programs to electronics design can be a real challenge. Any PCB that is intended for manufacturing must have a corresponding bill of materials. This document is critical as it lists all of information about your PCB in a standardized format. Your bill of materials contains a Read Article

Why Constantly Updating Component Libraries are Boons

Why Constantly Updating Component Libraries are Boons If you’re my age or older, you might remember looking through the card catalog at your local library. Lacking any digitized system, thumbing through a list of information on paper was the only way to find the book you were looking for. This might be fine for finding books in a hurry, but it is a terrible system for locating the components you need for your PCB. Within the potential production environments, PCB layout is only one piece of an ever Read Article

Mechanical System Verification Keeps Production Optimized

Mechanical System Verification Keeps Production Optimized These days, electronic packaging is more than just a neat rectangular box with some holes drilled for input and output cables. Electronics are sleeker with uniquely-shaped packaging, and your android mobile phone circuit board diagram images need to fit into tight clearances. Whether it is through design optimization with collaboration between design engineers and mechanical engineering, or through a production process with strong inventory Read Article

Copper Efficiency and its Impact on Electronics Design and Manufacturing

Copper Efficiency and its Impact on Electronics Design and Manufacturers We learned early in our engineering education that copper is the most widely used metal to conduct electricity. The industry trade group, Copper Development Association, indicates that 61% of all mined copper ends up as an electrical conductor in a never-ending list of applications. Further study shows that choosing a metal for use in an electrical circuit goes beyond its ability to conduct electricity, and includes such things as electrical Read Article

The Problem With Using Excel Templates For Your Bill of Materials

The Problem With Using Excel Templates For Your Bill of Materials Let’s give credit where credit is due: templates can be very useful tools. I’m not really the artistic type, and artistic templates have really helped enhance my documents and presentations. Templates are useful for certain tasks, but using a bill of materials template for a new electronic device is not one of them. Moving from a finished design to the assembly stage for a new product is no simple task. Your manufacturer needs detailed Read Article

Creating Library Parts and Attaching 3D Models Enables Clearer Designs

Creating Library Parts and Attaching 3D Models Enables Clearer Designs Between custom and standard components, your component helps you keep track of everything from SPICE models to basic 2D footprints for use during layout. As PCB design leaves the two dimensions and enters three dimensions, modern component libraries now come packaged with 3D models. Building a 3D model for your proprietary components is also a good idea if you ever plan to check mechanical clearances. But most PCB design software platforms don’t Read Article

John Watson on the Journey to a Single Source Library Watch Video

Board Shape Management in 3D Modeling Software

Board Shape Management in 3D Modeling Software Rectangular PCBs are old-school. Newer devices are more likely to use an odd-shaped PCB that closely conforms to its packaging or a rigid-flex board that moves with the device. 3D visualization tools have become essential for PCB designers, especially when designing rigid-flex boards with unique shapes. Using CAD software, you’ll want to have a Sketchup that ensures printing is easy to achieve. Managing board shapes for use in rigid and rigid Read Article

Excel Versus BOM Software: When Your Data Management Tool Needs an Upgrade

Excel Versus BOM Software: When Your Data Management Tool Needs an Upgrade At our house, creating a grocery shopping list can become a multi-day event. Stage 1 of the extravaganza involves a careful but not well-planned review of all available grocery store ads. Stage 2 moves on to the analysis of those advertisements. One never knows where bargains may lurk. Then, Stage 3 takes us to the pantry for a study of our available resources while Stage 4 measures our budget against our needs. When we eventually stroll through Read Article

Overview of PCB Development Process

Overview of PCB Development Process I have a friend who forgets that the rest of us can’t read his mind. He often starts a conversation without any sort of introduction or context. There have been many times where after several minutes of dialog I have had to hold up my hands and simply ask; “what are you talking about?” Once he backs up and gives me an overview, then I am ready for the details. Although this had made for some amusing moments, it isn’t nearly so funny when it Read Article

37:15 Altium Designer: Key Benefits of ActiveBOM Webinar What is ActiveBOM? ActiveBOM is an editor in Altium Designer that sits alongside, in importance, with the schematic and PCB Watch Video