Duplicate pad designators are created:

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2020 Duplicate Designators

When pushed through the PCB connector, previously this would have returned an error and cancelled the operation. However, here it does not

No error reported from Connector

As shown, the Push operation is completed and the pads are now available on the mechanical side.

Pads are now available on the mechanical side

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB 2020 Duplicate Designators from ECAD to MCAD appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

With flex and rigid-flex PCB design, the design process can be very difficult at times as the 3 dimensional shape of the board is more complex than a typical rigid PCB being fitted into an enclosure. As flex/rigid-flex boards are designed to bend, fitting the PCB inside its enclosure can sometimes be time consuming as the old paper “dolls” methods/cutouts can take extra time to make and test — and yet there is still guess work that can lead to errors in the design.

With SOLIDWORKS PCB, all the above issues can be eliminated as the design, verification, and conformity of the flex/rigid-flex PCB inside its enclosure can all be verified within SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS PCB without any guess work.

This is a great solution especially when combined with the power of 3D printing as the full product (PCB and enclosure) can be designed and verified in SOLIDWORKS prior to being built, reducing costs – as prototypes can be 3D printed in house, and in lesser quantities.

To create a rigid/rigid-flex PCB in SOLIDWORKS PCB:

1. Design the shape of the board, and note the rigid and flexible segments of the design (this is done as normal in SOLIDWORKS PCB).

Rigid and flexible segments

2. Launch the Layer Stack Manager, and select the Advanced tab.

Layer Stack Manager

3. Next, choose the layer stack desired, add stacks as needed for the rigid and flex (or just flex). Ensure to check the “Flex” checkbox for the flex segment.

Choose the layer stack desired

4. Once that is completed, we can go ahead and start defining the different stacks on our board. Navigate to Board > Board Shape > Edit Board Shape.

Edit Board Shape

5. Edit the board shape as needed, define split lines to split the different stacks up.

Define split line

6. Once the board is split, double click each region and use the drop down menu to assign it the correct stack.

Assign to the correct stack

7. Ensure to select the 3D Locked option for the region that the flex board will be “flexing” or bending around. The 3D locked region is the main region of the PCB.

3D Locked option

8. Next place the bend lines where the board is intended to bend, this will be used to model the PCB bending when viewed in 3D

Define Bending Line

Bend Line applied

When the board is now viewed in 3D (by clicking the shortcut keyboard key ‘3’), the board appears as normal.

3D View

However, when it number ‘5’ shortcut is clicked, the board will animate and bend as defined

Animate and bend

This board can then be pushed over through the SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector to SOLIDWORKS where the mechanical designer can ensure it will fit and bend perfectly inside its enclosure. This addition to SOLIDWORKS PCB will save time and effort when it comes to designing flex or rigid-flex PCBs.

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB 2020 Flex / Rigid-flex Boards appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Please note: the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer cannot be installed on a machine containing an existing SOLIDWORKS PCB installation.

To begin the install, launch the SOLIDWORKS 2020 installation manager and select Modify your installation.

Modify your installation

Click Next and proceed to the Product Selection page.

Next proceed with the install

Select the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer as shown below to install.

Select the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer

Click Next to begin the installation.

Once the installation is complete, you can launch the Viewer and sign in to SOLIDWORKS PCB Services to access your projects.

Connect to SOLIDWORKS PCB Services

The user interface for the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer is very similar to that of a standard SOLIDWORKS PCB environment, with the exception of the modifications tools being grayed out and non-functional (for both schematic and PCB editing).

SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer

The Viewer is a strong addition to SOLIDWORKS PCB as it further eases collaboration not only between ECAD and MCAD, but also between designers, managers, and approvers.

The post How to install the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer 2020 appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

1. Create a new SOLIDWORKS PCB project — choose the default “Blank PCB Project” template, or if desired, one can modify any of the default existing templates.

Blank PCB Project

2. Add any documents that are desired to be a part of the SOLIDWORKS PCB template, this can include PCB, schematic, text, database link, etc.

Add any documents

3. Make any required modifications and changes to the added documents (i.e. board outlines, layers, schematics, polygons, design rules, output files and configurations, etc.). Any changes made will be saved as part of the template and available for later use.
4. Save and close the project along with all other documents. Use a common name for all files that is consistent with the name of the project chosen from step 1.
5. Create an image with Microsoft Paint (or any other application) and save it as an .emf file with the same name as the project. This will serve as the template preview.

Create an image

6. Cut and paste all the files created for this project (including the project, schematic, pcb, .emf, etc.) into the default template folder. This should be located at: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS PCB [version]\Templates\PCB Projects
7. Open the “PCB Project Templates.ini” file in a text editor and add a new entry for the newly created template. Change only the COMMONFILENAME and FOLDERNAME fields. Use the format below:

[COMMONFILENAME]
Category=CATEGORYNAME
Title=
Description=

8. Save and close the .ini file

NOTE: The new SOLIDWORKS PCB template should now be available for use when creating a new project. One key thing is to ensure all files used in the new template have a common name, and are placed into the template folder.

The post How to create a new SOLIDWORKS PCB template appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Connected Design

Designing with a unified ecosystem

One of these challenges is the number of disciplines brought to bear on the process. Mechanical, electrical, electronic, and network design are all-too-often managed separately, and this siloed approach can hamper design and development from the outset. To streamline and simplify things, SOLIDWORKS offers a suite of software solutions that brings a greater level of connection and clarity to the process. Now teams can share data and ideas, quicker and easier than ever before.

Integrated development provides a competitive edge

Employing a set of integrated design tools to develop connected products and systems provides a variety of benefits. Users can leverage an integrated approach to shorten design cycles, improve quality, and facilitate manufacturing and assembly, while simultaneously encouraging a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach. When electronic design, electrical schematics and wiring, motion control systems, and mechanical housing and component design are completed in an integrated manner, it enables new ways of thinking and sparks innovation.

Representative Connected Devices Solution

SOLIDWORKS ECAD Solutions

Dramatically improve your workflow and maximize results—no matter what the application—with SOLIDWORKS ECAD Solutions. The suite of electro-mechanical design tools enable faster design, improved information and data sharing, and increased accuracy in the development of smart devices and other products requiring embedded electronics.

SOLIDWORKS PCB

Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are at the heart of smart design and electrical engineering, so accuracy and quality in their design and manufacture is critical.

SOLIDWORKS PCB powered by Altium® is an electromechanical solution that combines SOLIDWORKS’ 3D expertise with the scientific power and intuitive workflow the Altium Designer® software. The result is an integrated development environment ideal for collaboration and innovation.

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018

SOLIDWORKS PCB allows users to seamlessly and intelligently keep their electronic and mechanical designs synchronized, ensuring more consistent and standardized designs, and helping facilitate quick, easy change orders. The system’s proven electronic design technology and streamlined schematics editor provide better collaboration, while its native integration ensures easier migration, lower costs, fewer production delays, and a faster time-to-market.

CircuitWorks Integrated ECAD to MCAD Translator

Mechanical engineers (MCAD) and electrical engineers (ECAD) need to work closely in creating complex designs to help speed up the product development process, and save time and development costs. CircuitWorks is a powerful electronic CAD/ECAD translator that enables engineers to create accurate 3D models of circuit boards in SOLIDWORKS 3D design software. As part of the SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D technologies, CircuitWorks enables you to share, compare, update, and track electrical design data to help you more quickly resolve electrical-mechanical integration problems.

CircuitWorks

Electrical CAD to Mechanical CAD Exchange

Efficiently collaborating on CAD data is one of the prevalent challenges for mechanical and electrical designers. When developing a consumer product such as a laptop, where reducing size and weight while preserving aesthetics are all important criteria, the electrical engineer designing the PCB and selecting components (such as fans and power supplies) must clearly communicate ECAD data to the mechanical engineer. In turn, the Mechanical Engineer needs to clearly communicate back mechanical design changes affecting the design of the PCB. CircuitWorks efficiently promotes bidirectional data exchange. Design teams can work together to resolve ECAD-MCAD integration problems and move faster to create innovative, higher quality products.

ECAD and MCAD

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation and Electronic Cooling Module

An equally important aspect of the electro-engineering process is the ability to maximize performance in the final product. Users can achieve this by using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation and its set of intelligent models to perform thermal analysis on PCBs and other electronics. The resulting data can be used to ensure the optimal performance of all components.

Similarly, the Electronic Cooling Module features its own set of intelligent models to enable a broad range of electronic cooling applications to be built quickly and accurately.

Flow in Electronic Enclosure

SOLIDWORKS Electrical

With SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D and SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics software, users can create schematic driven electromechanical designs within the SOLIDWORKS design ecosystem. When coupled with SOLIDWORKS PCB, users will have a completely integrated mechatronics design suite.

SOLIDWORKS Electrical ECAD

SOLIDWORKS Electrical PDM Connector

Maintaining product design data is critical to ensure design integrity, and to provide the same high level of design data management for electrical and mechatronic designs that SOLIDWORKS users expect. SOLIDWORKS Electrical Professional products include the ability to tightly integrate into SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional with same capabilities as SOLIDWORKS, with a stress-free interface crafted specifically for electrical users.

SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic Professional

To achieve rapid development of embedded electrical systems for equipment and other products, users need a powerful easy-to-use suite of multi-user collaborative schematic design tools. SOLIDWORKS Electrical allows you to streamline and simplify the most complex design task with an array of easy-to-use features, from Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and 3D terminal block, to contact cross-reference assignments, automated reporting and terminal drawing creation—all within a collaborative project management environment.

SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic Standard

A powerful, stress-free, easy-to-use single user schematic design tool helps rapid development of embedded electrical systems for equipment and other products. Built-in and web enabled libraries of symbols and manufacturer part information provide common re-usable materials optimizing design reuse. You can streamline and simplify an array of tedious design tasks, from terminal block to contact cross-reference assignments, with SOLIDWORKS automated design and management tools.

SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D

Integrate electrical schematic design data with the SOLIDWORKS 3D model of a machine or other product, bidirectionally and in real time. SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D enables you to place electrical components and use advanced SOLIDWORKS routing technology to interconnect electrical design elements within the 3D model. Determine optimal lengths and routing paths for electrical interconnect, while maintaining design and Bill of Materials (BOM) synchronization between electrical and mechanical designs.

Summary

At its core, SOLIDWORKS is simply a smarter approach. By unifying all electro-mechanical disciplines into one ecosystem, SOLIDWORKS ECAD offers a powerful advantage in the designing, engineering and deployment of smart products.

The post ECAD Connected Process Solution from SOLIDWORKS appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Circuit board for a handheld game console created in SOLIDWORKS PCB

Seamless form, fit and function attained

SOLIDWORKS Electrical

Route wires, cables and harnesses from your circuit board to and from existing mechanical designs. Obtain precise wire and cable lengths and create a more realistic design at the same time with SOLIDWORKS Electrical.

Cable assembly designed in SOLIDWORKS Electrical

SOLIDWORKS Simulation

Validation of any design is key, and with the SOLIDWORKS Simulation suite rest assured your PCB designs will exceed industry standards. Conduct thermal and flow simulation studies to monitor heat transfer and keep your devices running cool.

Thermal analysis of the CPU with the SOLIDWORKS Simulation add-in

SOLIDWORKS Visualize

Bring your hardware designs to life with a fully rendered image of the PCB in it’s mechanical chassis using SOLIDWORKS Visualize.

Exploded model rendered in SOLIDWORKS Visualize

The possibilities are endless when designing circuit boards with SOLIDWORKS PCB. Watch the video below to discover even more ways SOLIDWORKS PCB can streamline your electronics design process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWo7lGxrh30&list=PLiKqXuECiKNIXmVQ1v4-6sN8583f3O2ZB

Interested in optimising your current SOLIDWORKS PCB design workflow? Check out the Electrical services Javelin has to offer.

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB Design and beyond for Industry 4.0 appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

1. SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector, which connects Altium Designer to SOLIDWORKS.
2. SOLIDWORKS PCB, which was developed by the combined efforts of DS SolidWorks and Altium. This product directly interfaces with SOLIDWORKS.

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018

If you are catching up with this exciting PCB solution or if it your first time reading about SOLIDWORKS PCB,  I recommend taking a sneak peek of it in action with the video below:

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 Related Posts

As a pioneering E-CAD and M-CAD integration tool, true to always delivering customer defined products, here are 5 favorites from the SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 enhancements:

• 3D Integration Enhancements
• IPC Compliant footprint wizard
• DB Link
• Secure hosting services
• Symbol Wizard

Watch our SOLIDWORKS 2018 Launch Broadcast

Javelin’s team of Certified SOLIDWORKS experts unveiled the new software in a live broadcast. Watch a recording of the broadcast to see technical demonstrations and tutorials on how to use the new software. Click here to learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2018

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 Top 5 Enhancements Video appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Hardware management:

The improvements to SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 include a better way to manage hardware components like stiffeners, rails and heat sinks. The information can be pushed over to SOLIDWORKS PCB from SOLIDWORKS.

Z-Axis is now locked:

What does this mean? In SOLIDWORKS the components can move only along X and Y axis. Further reducing any possibility of introducing user driven collaborations errors between teams. The Hole will update in SOLIDWORKS when components are moved.

Holes update and move with the component

Embedded components:

In 2018 SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector, these are now positioned with precision when pushed from Altium Designer over to SOLIDWORKS via the PCB connector.

Variant Collaboration:

Allows for more form and fit testing as SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 variants are represented as configurations within SOLIDWORKS. Components are suppressed when the variant selections are marked as NOT INSTALLED. A simple variance example, would be the use of variance for a North American design VS a European design.

https://youtu.be/5frM0xLhjZk

Performance:

Benchmark has improved drastically. Assemblies that took up to 20 mins to open in 2017 version of SOLIDWORKS PCB, now open in 6 minutes on first time and ~35 secs on second time.

Watch our SOLIDWORKS 2018 Launch Broadcast

Javelin’s team of Certified SOLIDWORKS experts unveiled the new software in a live broadcast. Watch a recording of the broadcast to see technical demonstrations and tutorials on how to use the new software. Click here to learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2018

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 3D Integration Enhancements appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 Database link

The information can be component parameters, parametric information or simply reference documentation. Information can be driven to a database and can be mapped to retrieve from the database such that it adds information to the design component in SOLIDWORKS PCB.

Where to find this setup:

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 > File > New Document > Database Link file

Watch our SOLIDWORKS 2018 Launch Broadcast

Javelin’s team of Certified SOLIDWORKS experts unveiled the new software in a live broadcast. Watch a recording of the broadcast to see technical demonstrations and tutorials on how to use the new software. Click here to learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2018

The post SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 Database Link appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Enable Version Control

Version Control must be enabled in System Preferences before a project can be commit to a repository.

• System Preferences > Data Management > Version Control > Enable SVN – Subversion and Use Built-in Subversion

Enable SVN Version Control

Creating a Repository

A repository can be created and modified in the PCB Services web interface. User permissions can be configured from the Share button.

Creating a Repository from the PCB Services Web Interface

When creating a new project, the repository can be specified.

Creating a Folder for Project Specific Documents

Committing to the Repository

Simply adding a project to a repository or saving the project locally does not create a revision in the repository. To create a new revision in the repository, the project must be Commit.

• Right-click on the Project > Version Control > Commit Whole Project
  

  Commit Whole Project

If using an existing project, simply Add to Version Control before committing the project to the design repository.

Select Files to Commit

A timeline of revision history can be found in the VCS Revisions window of the Storage Manager.

Timeline

Version Control Actions

Version control actions are made through the Storage Manager. The Storage Manager acts as the SVN compliant interface for communicating with the repository. The Storage Manager offers complete access to the project structure and revisions. A project must be open with a document active for the Storage Manager to be populated. To open the Storage Manager:

• View > System > Storage Manager

Open the Storage Manager

When a project is added to version control, the local project is linked to its location in the design repository. The version control system works by monitoring differences between the local files and the files in the design repository.

Showing Differences

A useful feature when dealing with multiple revisions is the ability to compare differences in documents. Changes in both schematic and PCB documents can be compared using the Compare tool.

The locations of the GND port and Capacitor C2 were moved from Revision 2 to Revision 3

By opening the Storage Manager, highlighting the two revisions and selecting Compare, a detailed message list appears outlining any differences between the two schematics.

Compare Revisions

Difference Log

To learn more about SOLIDWORKS PCB

Visit our SOLIDWORKS PCB product page, check out our other PCB blog articles, follow us on YouTube or give us a call at 1-877-219-6757 to speak with an electrical expert.

The post SVN Version Control in SOLIDWORKS PCB appeared first on The Javelin Blog.