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PCB Design

Manually Creating Component Footprint

4 Steps on How to Create a Component Footprint in Altium Designer When laying out your printed circuit board, it is critical that you know how to create footprint for your design components. Some components are quite common or they come in standardized packages, making footprints easy to find. In some cases, footprint generation may need to be done by yourself, and you’ll need to use information directly from the component’s datasheet. If the footprint is incorrect, the part pins may not align with PCB pads or Read Article

Altium Designer Evaluation Guide for OrCAD® Users

Altium Designer Evaluation Guide for OrCAD® Users Read Article

Aspect Ratios and Their Importance to Multi-Layered PCBs

PCB Design: What are Aspect Ratios and Why Are They Important? The aspect ratio of a via in a PCB is an important parameter that determines its reliability, and in some cases, its electrical performance. Read Article

wave soldering

To Wave or Not To Wave: Wave Soldering Advantages and Disadvantages When can your design be created to use wave soldering? Learn more about the DFM choices that could force you into wave soldering. Read Article

Rigid Flex PCBs and Your Future: Smart, Effective Designing

Rigid Flex PCBs and Your Future: Smart, Effective Designing Oftentimes, in terms of PCB design, we are tasked with fitting a square peg into a round hole. Fitting thousands of various components onto a board no larger than a dollar bill, and maybe even a quarter, we always seem to be limited to the 2D plane of predetermined space within our equipment or device. We’ve all been there: after putting the finishing touches on a PCB design, you take a look at the space requirements of the device only to find Read Article

Save Your Lunch Break: Proper PCB Design Software Reduces Development Time

Save Your Lunch Break: Proper PCB Design Software Reduces Development Time I’m normally a well-mannered guy, but when someone messes up my schedule, those manners fly right out of the window. Last week, when my 15-minute lunch break was ruined because of a missed order, I was complaining to my managers and struggling to keep my rage under control. When it comes to managing my time, I have high standards. Choosing the right PCB design software to optimize development time is no exception. At the peak of my freelance Read Article

8-bit vs. 32-bit MCU: Choosing the Right Microcontroller for Your PCB Design

8-bit vs. 32-bit MCU: Choosing the Right Microcontroller for Your PCB Design I have very bad shopping habits when it comes to electronic gadgets. Torn between buying a new laptop or upgrading my tablet to an iPad Pro, I end up purchasing both and getting an endless lectures from my fiancé. Thankfully, I’m more decisive when choosing between 8-bit vs 32-bit microcontroller devices for my hardware design. They’re not too different in terms of cost, and one is more powerful than the other. To make the right choice, however Read Article

The Game Stays the Same: Helping PCB Designers with Their Career Growth

The Game Stays the Same: Helping PCB Designers with Their Career Growth Walking around the grade school near my house today, I noticed a father practicing baseball with his young son. Now around here, it’s still rainy and freezing cold, so they were bundled up and wisely under the covered portion of the playground. I didn’t know whether to applaud their dedication, or classify them as a couple of nuts. I decided to go with the dedication angle, and admittedly, it was great to see the dad’s excitement when his boy Read Article

PCBs from Space to Snow Plowing OnTrack Newsletter February 2018

PCBs from Space to Snow Plowing OnTrack Newsletter February 2018 On Track Newsletter February 2018 VOL. 1 No 11 Welcome to the February edition of the Altium^® On Track Newsletter. There is justifiable concern in our industry about where the next generation of PCB designers will come from. Estimates show that in approximately ten years, 50% of currently working PCB designers will be retiring—which is an alarming statistic! Since joining Altium exactly one year ago, I have seen overwhelming evidence from around Read Article

PCB Layout Tips for Hall Effect Applications Keep Your Designs Positive

PCB Layout Tips for Hall Sensor PCBs and Other Hall Effect Applications To me, one of the coolest things about kids is how much they can be amazed by science and other phenomena that, as an adult, you’ve just grown to accept. I gave a five-year old homemade magnetic slime for his birthday one year; consisting of iron oxide powder, Elmer’s glue, and liquid starch, the prospect of a black gooey mess delighted everyone except for the boy’s mother. No one could dispute the fun involved with mixing the stuff or the Read Article

26:42 Tara Dunn on Flex Cost Drivers and Next Gen Technologists [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

46:40 Jeremy Blum at Shaper Tools and the CNC Router Revolutionizing Hardware Design [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

23:02 Design for Manufacturing, a discussion with Robbin Thompson and Judy Warner [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

39:20 Tapes-ups to ActiveRoute, Charles Pfeil and Judy Warner Catch Up [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

Multi-board Design, Episode 1 with Ben Jordan and Judy Warner [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

Remote BOM Access Makes Work as Easy as Hitting a Button

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

Multi-board Design, a discussion with Ben Jordan

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