It's all symantics guys, PWB = PCB, PWA = PCA. Where the B always equals Board and the A always equals Assembled. Individual companies want to be standardized in their nomenclature, which helps them get the boards designed, fabbed and assembled with minimum delay, I'm sure we all can and do agree with that. Every company is different in this respect, whatever they want to call it, it's all good. I think the original phrase "Printed Wiring Board" came from when all that was available was the base material, they would attach components (thru-hole and vacuum tubes and such) and then techs would use discrete wires to hook everything together. Much like today's bread-board. A "wire" could be a trace on an etched board or a real hard-wired connection, which would have to be installed in case the designer missed a necessary trace connection. ~j
----- Original Message ----- From: "JaMi Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "JaMi Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "JaMi Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 12:55 PM Subject: Re: [PEDA] What does "printed circuit board" mean to you? Abdul, Since I am somewhat new to the electronics industry, and to PCB Design, I am a little miffed by some of your statements below, and specifically the one where you state: A "circuit" is not just the wiring, it is a loop, or possibly the non-power portion of the loop which completes the loop. Could you please explain what you mean by this "loop" thing that you are talking about? Thanks, JaMi Smith -----Original Message----- From: Abd ul-Rahman Lomax [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:02 AM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: Re: [PEDA] What does "printed circuit board" mean to you? Most of what I would say on this has already been said by others. PWB was widely used in military electronics, where they tended to be sticklers for detail. PCB was widely used, however, in commercial electronics, where the distinction between "wiring" and "circuit" was mostly ignored. It is clear that the standard name for what most of us design is printed wiring boards, PWBs, what Mr. Saputelli called the "fab". The assembly is then a Printed Wiring Assembly, that is, a PWB with added parts. "Printed Circuit" only has cachet from usage, a usage that was unconsidered, it would be better if we said goodbye to it, without becoming language nazis. A "circuit" is not just the wiring, it is a loop, or possibly the non-power portion of the loop which completes the loop. The question was asked about true printed circuit boards. These boards have features, etched in copper or otherwise incorporated into the "board" as part of the fabrication process, which are not merely wires, they have electronic functions and they will properly appear on the schematic and will have footprints; examples are resistors, inductors, capacitors, mixers, delay lines. We have discussed methods for keeping shorts on these parts open for DRC purposes. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Abdulrahman Lomax Easthampton, Massachusetts USA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
