I'm with you Dennis, I never copy the whole board into the panel. I just use another Mechanical layer (usually 3) to create a panelization drawing and let the fab house deal with it. We always print out the panel drawing and include it in the ECN package. Many of our test fixtures are created for the boards while still in the panel, but why would I want to make work for myself. Don't you know that Engineers are inherently lazy!? Cheers,
-----Original Message----- From: Dennis Saputelli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 10:24 AM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: Re: [PEDA] Merging boards what mike r. was suggesting, which i think is a great idea even though i don't do it that way myself is the following: don't panelize the the main layout itself, just draw all the fussy details of the panel, breakaways etc. then let the bd shop insert the images as instructed this was you can have your cake and eat it and you don't need to maintain a separate 'single' copy for DRC one time (not using the above method) we panelized a board and one trace didn't get in the clipboard half the bds had one trace missing Dennis Saputelli Brad Velander wrote: > > Mike, > there is something amiss in your explanation regarding reference > designators. You can merge multiple boards with the same reference > designators, again you use the "Paste Special" command and select the > "Duplicate Reference" designator box. I do this all the time, day in and day > out for our development boards. You can/will also use the Keep Nets > selection and you may have ratsnest connections between boards where similar > nets occur. But other then that it works just fine. I most heartedly suggest > that all design, checking and editing be absolutely complete before you > merge boards because after merging editing or DRC checking and other > operations can become very complex because of unrouted nets between boards, > duplicate designators and the likes. Keep your original singular boards to > work on for future editing, keep the merged boards as a separate panelized > file, edit only the original singular boards when editing is required. > The problem with merging boards which contain differing or split > planes is very much more complex. Basically it probably shouldn't be > attempted unless you are quite experienced or the boards are absolutely > identical. For this very reason I usually use Mid-layers rather then Plane > layers and I draw my planes as polygons. This is much more conducive to > merging multiple boards into a panel. It also gets you around some of the > limitations/bugs associated with "Planes" not being DRC'ed properly for all > possible errors. > > Sincerely, > Brad Velander. > > Lead PCB Designer > Norsat International Inc. > #300 - 4401 Still Creek Drive, > Burnaby, B.C., Canada, V5C 6G9. > Tel (604) 292-9089 (direct line) > Fax (604) 292-9010 > Website: www.norsat.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Reagan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 5:31 AM > To: Protel EDA Forum > Subject: Re: [PEDA] Merging boards > > Sean wrote: > > >When I merged 2 boards to create a pallette, 2 of the internal split planes > of the 2nd board changed nets. Is there any way to prevent this, or is it a > bug? > > Sean, > I am assuming you are panelizing two boards, which are identical. If the > boards are identical use the Paste Special, and check keep the same nets, > also check Duplicate reference numbers. This should work. > > If you are attempting to merge two board that are not identical, but share > the same reference numbers then they can not be merged. Is it a bug? I > think it is more the method which Protel chooses to implement not a bug. I > agree with it because it prevents a designer from having parts with > duplicate reference numbers. The work around for all penalization is draw > the panels, the routes, break off tabs on the drill file then ask your board > house to panelize the design to your outline. Care must be taken that the > outlines you create are exact, as I have had calls from a board house > because I was 1 mil off grid. Also you might want to add a fab note for > the direction of the panels, since a square board can be rotated to fit. > The third action is to have the fab house return the paste gerber which is > panelized otherwise you may have a registration problem with BGAs. > > Good Luck > > Mike Reagan > EDSI -- ___________________________________________________________________________ www.integratedcontrolsinc.com Integrated Controls, Inc. tel: 415-647-0480 2851 21st Street fax: 415-647-3003 San Francisco, CA 94110 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
