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pcad question

One question related to P-CAD (2004).

Say you've created a small PCB board in P-CAD using copper pour for large ground and would like to multiply the board for stencil and pcb manufacturing.

The problem is that copy-paste does not work as you loose the net information and copper pour is lost. You basically have to re-assign ground net for the copper pour for every small pcb, which can be time consuming.

Is there a way to lock each individual board so the copper pour stays put?

I've tried just about everything with no success.

M
Reply to
TheM
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Are you trying to make a panel (many copies of the same board)? If so, the easiest way is do the panel in a Gerber editor. If this is for a commercial job, have the PCB manufacturer panel the board for you. Give them a drawing how you want the panel done. Be sure to specify where you want the tooling holes and fiducials on the panel.

--
Mark
Reply to
qrk

I know this can be done and my pcb guy is doing it in gerber, however later I need to submit the same pcb for stencil to another guy and there I get in trouble...

M
Reply to
TheM

Typically you get a copy of the fabrication Gerber files (panelized, top layer, bottom layer, both layers) back from your fabricator in order to pass them along to the stencil supplier. It's that simple. Or you can make a single one up file for your stencil supplier and then give them the same information on panelization you gave your fabricator. If your fabricator alters anything from your original panelization details, be sure they are also fed back to the stencil fabricator.

-- Sincerely, Brad Velander.

Reply to
Brad Velander

layer, bottom layer, both layers) back from your

simple.

give them the same information on panelization you gave

panelization details, be sure they are also fed back to the

Well, right now that is not the case, but I suppose I could ask for the files.

I wondered whether there is a work-around where I could do this myself, but I guess pcad does not easily allow this.

Thanks for the feedback/help.

M
Reply to
TheM

In my CAD system I would have just fattened up the ground line as much as possible then step and repeating wouldnt be a problem.

I am not a lover of copper pours or powerplane generators as they can sometimes leave narrow slivers of copper that can move and short things out.

formatting link

Reply to
Marra

Yes, this is a PITA with PCAD2004 .

PCAD 2006 has a 'paste circuit' feature which will do exactly what you want, but with 2004, the only way I've found is to rejoin all the nodes on the pour net, and it is very easy to miss the odd pin or two....

ISTR a while ago managing to do it using gerber import (which imported the pour as its constituent lines) - This didn't fully work for me as I was doing a layout that needed to be printed, and the process lost the pad holes which are essential for hand drilling, however for gerber output it might work. However I'm not sure how you'd handle the drill data.

Reply to
Mike Harrison

but with 2004, the only

to miss the odd pin

Now this is the answer I've been waiting for all along, thanks! Yes, with 2004 its only doable for a very small PCB with few iterations of the same PCB or it gets very tiresom.

pour as its constituent

be printed, and the

gerber output it might

My PCB guy knows how to do this, I've asked him to provide his "multiplied" gerber files for my last PCB and I'll see if I can use them to create stencil from there.

M
Reply to
TheM

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