PCB design exported to mechanical solid modeling
Art Woodbury
a copy was sent to the cited author.]
I'm an M.E. and part of a startup medical device
company. Our hw/sw guy has designed boards using Eagle.
My objective is to get his work into SolidWorks (a
mechanical solid modeling program). So far, I've
received his results as 2D DXF files, but I have to
chase down solid models of the components from
manufacturers, or create my own models. (Did I say that
mechanical/electronic parts are so tightly packed that
physical clearances and ventilation spaces are a big
concern?)
We've been thru the Mark I model, but before we start
the Mark II, I want to make my life simpler.
Can anyone make recommendations for a PCB layout
software (with autorouter) that can export a decent 3D
solid model of the populated board? Obviously, there's
some push and shove here. I'd like a quick, simple
export of the board design, and our electron wizard
wants a capable tool for for his needs.
TIA for your advice,
Art W.
JeffM
>
>of the populated board?
> Art Woodbury
I bookmarked this years ago. Never messed with it.
m.weisser (Matthias Weißer)
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:lM5Wr6E5xTAJ:www.matwei.de/doku.php?id=en:eagle3d:eagle3d+Windows-Installer
Adrian Jansen
EZPC from Numberone Systems allows 3D modelling of components, as well
as all the PCB design tools. I think you can export the 3D part to DXF,
although I havent actually tried it.
Most of the high end PCB tools will do it too, at a price.
--
Regards,
Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Design Engineer J & K Micro Systems
Microcomputer solutions for industrial control
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.
Ian Bell
> Can anyone make recommendations for a PCB layout
> software (with autorouter) that can export a decent 3D
> solid model of the populated board? Obviously, there's
> some push and shove here. I'd like a quick, simple
> export of the board design, and our electron wizard
> wants a capable tool for for his needs.
>
You could try Kicad. It has a built in 3D component modeler but I do not
know about its export formats. However, is free so it is easy to try.Find
it at:
http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/index.html
Ian
Frithiof Andreas Jensen
"Art Woodbury" <no_spam@munged_address.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1df6cdef8...@news1.news.adelphia.net...
> Can anyone make recommendations for a PCB layout
> software (with autorouter) that can export a decent 3D
> solid model of the populated board? Obviously, there's
> some push and shove here. I'd like a quick, simple
> export of the board design, and our electron wizard
> wants a capable tool for for his needs.
It has been my experience that one can build and test *a lot* of prototypes
for the time and money "invested" in getting tools to calculate what must be
measured & verified on protypes anyway!
The "Big Shop" Kilobuck packages can generally do it - Mentor Graphics come
to mind. A.F.A.I.R, the license runs into five digits with special
hardware+OS+support requirements to finish off any alledged productivity
gained by using them.
In the case of Mentor, a mechanical interface will be an ex$$$$tension
module and will - of course - only work with more Kilobuck upstream tools;
Catia/Cadence from IBM or something like that.
*I* would not want to go there - sometimes, worse is simply better!
PS:
Maybe, just maybe, one can write a script that parses design information
from the layout package and into something that the mechanical tool can pick
up with less work remaining than now (i.e. one needs to write a compiler
tool).
My previous experience with that approach, was that all design tools tend to
be hermetically-closed-binary formats that maybe only God can get a
specification for - *after* making an old testament example of some of the
CAD vendors legal people in front of management ;-).
This was a while ago, maybe times have changed.
Roy Battell
Woodbury <no_spam@munged_address.com> writes
>
>Can anyone make recommendations for a PCB layout
>software (with autorouter) that can export a decent 3D
>solid model of the populated board?
Assuming Windows, Vutrax has an export module for
IDF format for 3D Modelling software such as
Solidworks and Pro-Engineer.
Although the module can be downloaded it is not
runable with the standard 256 pin free issue download
(about 10MB). If the initial look seems likely
to satisfy for PCB design, ask Vutrax support for a
30 day trial of a system with this module included
to check it does what you want.
Initial downloads (installer and the three 'System'
files) from
http://www.vutrax.co.uk (Main UK site for Vutrax CAD)
or
http://www.bnellis.com/vutrax (Central Europe Mirror)
--
Roy Battell.
To use this address remove the digits included to remove Spam ...
Mail: ne...@vutrax666.co.uk
Mark....@4thdpcb.com
which can then be brought in by the mechanical application.
ie...Pro-E, Solidedge, or Solidworks.
We do this on a regular basis with Pro-E but I'm sure Solidworks will
do it too.
Hope this helps.
Mark
4th Dimension PCB
Sunrise, FL 33323
http://www.4thdpcb.com