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How to panelize designs in Ultiboard 10.1

Those are some nice looking boards there, Chris.
Kittmaster's Component Database
http://ni.kittmaster.com

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Message 11 of 17
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You can export your design to Pentalogix "Viewmate DeLuxe" and panelize.  It's a $49 product.  I had used the freeware version to look for Ultiboard errors (thankfully they were extremely rare.)  The freeware version does not allow you to create the full Gerber you need to send to the board house.

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Message 12 of 17
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The very first ultiboard the (DOS) version you could export a block by selecting all then export as a block then import the block  into the new design .

Say you had a power supply 15 v+ and 15 - that  already had all the parts placed and routed , you could import the power supply from a next design unto the new design and it would rename the nets and parts as ( copy of R1, copy of net v+) and so on.

 

Or say you were building a stereo amplifier  after you do the layout of the first channel you could copy and paste and the nets and parts would be renamed as a copy  of the original net and part  , i.e.  IC1 , copy $IC1, NET bias, copy $NET bias , and so on ...

you could even reroute the board if you wanted  and the copied board would get routed too.

 

In the new version of ultiboard  ,there is no import or export  of net list  , no import or export a blocks, you could select an area of a  PCB ,i.e. power supply then export the selected area as a block and name the block ( power supply 15 volts)  then  import as a block( power supply 15 volts) on to the new design .. 

 

You could then merge the nets you want to merge i.e. ground , v+, v-

 

In the new version of ultiboard when you copy and paste , the coppied nets don't get rerouted when you run the auto-router , they get deleted ..

In the new version , I laid out and routed the first channel  then copy and paste , then export the gerber.. see the attached file

 

when you export the gerber, export the BOM too

 

I bin begging for this feature to come back , this would save allot of time ..


Thanks The Scientist

 

 

8ch.jpg

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Message 13 of 17
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If  you notice in the attached file I put jumpers @ the end of the board so I can use jumpers to connect the other board ...

 

 

Thanks

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Message 14 of 17
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Remember to allow enough space between the adjacent designs for your cutting tool. Some board houses don't charge for cutouts.

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Message 15 of 17
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Here is a process I have used, but it's more painful than I like:

  1. do the first copy and get everything right and checked in the layout.
  2. replicate the circuit in MS for each copy desired.  You can do each copy on a separate apge with refdes numbering rules if you like.
  3. select and group each copy including the first and name them copy1, copy 2, .....  This is easy to do in the spreadsheet tab.
  4. export to UB
  5. in UB adjust your board outline to replicate the panel and cutouts/breakoffs.  I use + shaped slots and drilled perfs.  At Sunstone you can to a quickturn with 9 images with no extra charge this way.
  6. In UB select all the origian l refdes and copy and paste to some clear space.  You cannot group text attributes since most of them dissapear when you do.  UB bug?
  7. select and the traces, areas, vias (everything except text and parts) and copy and paste to some clear area.  If it's of board you won't see planes unless you draw a board outine box around it. Unlike text you can select all these a group them for easy handling.
  8. Select all parts except the first copy, edit properties, redes, -set visibility to none.
  9. Copy and paste the areas, traces, vias group into each image location.
  10. In Design/group replica place get all of your parts of each copy ordered to match the master copy..  You can place these in open space and move around as a group.
  11. Place replicated group in it's image space aligned with the traces tha were already placed in 9.
  12. Copy the text refdes (from master copy) and place in each image properly aligned.
  13. Place a unique number in each image so if theres a problem after breaking the boards apart you can tell which image it was.
  14. If you do this right you can get to 0 DRC errors, and the only connectivity errors you get in UB when it's done are for signals that are the same for each image, but not connected.  It works out nice if you allow this for areas connected to specific nets and power/ground.  Saves you a lot of customization work on each image.

This gives you a panelized set of boards that are all identical including the same refdes in the silkscreen on each image.

Any better ideas how to do this?

After you've done this once you might want to go evaluate the $95 (not $49) Viewmate for doing this in the future.

 

9up outline with 4 slot cutouts and breakoff perfs:

9up outline.PNG

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Message 16 of 17
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You should really do a video screen capture of the process.....why to easy to get lost in the step by step......

 

I wish they'd just implement panelization and be done with it.



Signature: Looking for a footprint, component, model? Might be here > http://ni.kittmaster.com
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Message 17 of 17
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