The easy way out is to answer your questions with one or two syllable words:
1) many; 2) pushbutton; 3) no; 4) unavailable.
But I assume you want more.
Process:
IDEA / SCHEMATIC / BOARD DESIGN / ASSEMBLY / TEST
To get that (your) whole process and the associated details into a single
data file you might have to generate an ODB++ like file.
Pieces of that file are needed to manufacture e.g. the circuit board or a
stencil. And those pieces can be Gerber files. Gerber files hold the
instructions to flash or draw the image of each layer of the circuit board,
one of which might be called the layer for the stencil.
From these pieces it is not possible to develop a smart file that includes
component information, etc. When I manufactured stencils that was the way I
liked it, as I did not have to worry about real confidential information, as
from the Gerber file I could not determine what the product was designed
for. (This assumes that the stencil data was optimized for the components
used on the board.)
So when your company does engineering (design), assembly and testing you
need all the information possibly contained in an ODB++ like file. The
design programs used by your (or your customer's) engineering department
should be able to generate this file, as most present day design programs
can do it. Your board design group needs it, together with a lot of
instructions from the engineering department, to design a good board.
Someone needs to extract the Gerber lists for the board house and the
stencil manufacturer so the purchasing department can order them and it also
need the parts list to buy the parts. The assembly department needs it to
determine where to put the parts on the board and the test department needs
it to develop test procedures.
But from each of the extracted pieces, you can not regenerate the smart
ODB++ like file.
And that is the long answer.
Good luck,
Ahne, ex A-Laser (wondering what made you ask the question!)
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amol Kane
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 08:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Gerber and CAD
Dear Technetters,
Hopefully this e-mail with get people going on technet again.
Some brief background before I ask questions. We use Aegis to write our
process instructions and machine programs and it is infinitely easy working
with CAD files (not to be confused with Autocad drawings) as compared to
digitizing Gerber files. CAD files have to contain the Part Number, Package
Information, Component Reference ID and location coordinates, along with the
board outline. Gerbers are used for ordering wave pallets, stencils etc. So,
1. How many people specifically ask customers to provide CAD files
along with Gerber.
2. What is involved in generation of CAD files (any special software,
extra steps etc)
3. Are any of the board houses capable of providing CAD files if the
customer only gives gerber files
4. What software can one use to generate CAD files if I have Gerber
Jack,
How come there was no mention of Tesla in your electricity piece? Very
hilarious by the way!
Thanks!
Amol
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