In a message dated 04/14/2000 5:52:44 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Greets,
>
>  I have recently joined a telecommunications outfit that outsources all
>  of it's manufacturing, something a little new to me.  Instead of
>  building low-rate defense hardware, I'm pushing high-rate assembly
>  shops.  I am wondering how soon a shop can begin programming pic&place
>  machines.  I know that the stencils can be ordered with the Gerber data,
>  but can the pwb/cca CAD data be used for placement machine set-up prior
>  to receipt of (any) hardware?  I never cease to be amazed at what these
>  new machines can do.
>
>  Thanks for input.
>
>  Ralph Vaughan
>  Arris-Interactive

Hi Ralph!

If a designer generates a centroid file for each component, and includes it
with the gerber files, that's wonderful! But many times (from my experience)
that is not done. That's because it's a completely separate operation from
the data that is required to actually produce the fab. But there is software
out there that can be used to create a pick and place program from gerber
data. We use "GC-Place" from Graphicode, go to: http://www.graphicode.com/ .
You can use straight gerber data to create a pick and place program...a
little more work than having a clean centroid file from the designer, but
better than "bomb-sighting", or teaching the board in the machine.

-Steve Gregory-

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