Parts Hieght - Top and Bottom

[Ross Clunie]

Can anyone tell me how to use the parts heigt attribute (layer 30) to export parts height and mounting offset to Pro-E. I have set the attribute to $315 200 (thou) and when this part is imported (via emn) to pro E the part height comews throug as 20275 thou. The attached file shows two parts. The first part has hieght (0.315")and elevation (0.200") data and the second part has height (0.315") information only.

[Tom]

Ross,

We never used Height on Layer_30. We use the Part Type attribute "Geometry.Height" and it works great for outputting .EMN & .EMP PRO-E files.

If you use Metric Units, place mm directly after the number (no space). Otherwise the default is mils.

[Ross Clunie]

Thanks for the reply Tom.
What we are trying to do is give a part altitude so that we can check the parts mounted under it are going to fit and are not to high.

[Tom]

If you figure that out, please tell me so I can incorporate it into the PCBstandards libraries.

[randychase]

Originally posted by Tom Hausherr

If you use Metric Units, place mm directly after the number (no space). Otherwise the default is mils.

I think the default is mil

We need to change the inch library because it says mils, which is not recognized.

[Tom]

Randy,

What Ross is looking for is a way to discriminate between how far a component sits off the Board Plane (via Gullwing leads), which would be the bottom of the part, and also, what the overall Height of the part is.

He needs to know how much room are under each component so he can place smaller components underneath it and still check for DRC violations, while simultaneously extracting the true component height for PRO-E.

I believe that this will become an important issue in the future due to shrinking board real-estate.

[randychase]

Yes, I understood what he was looking for. Thanks.


I wonder how many SM parts have built in clearances like that, that could be effectively utilized.

[Ross Clunie]

We mainly place SM parts under larger through hole parts that sit of the PCB plane eg. Buzzers etc but would still want to represent this in Pro-E to make sure that we do not have interferance issues

[randychase]

But the problem I see with those kinds of parts is this- most thru hole parts I have dealt with that allow you to place parts underneath are raised off the board in certain places, but not all over. For example, an LCD may have a plane that is a certain distance off the pcb, but the lad area sits down on the pcb. Can you really get away with defining a Y dim for most of a part? Another example of a part like this, is a Smartcard connector. There are still areas/bosses that contact the pcb.

The other cases are parts I have intentionally mounted higher off the board for space reasons, and that is variable.

[Tom Frayda]

Yes, I believe you nailed it, Randy. Much like you can only define one value for the geometry.height, I think you can only define one value you the height (elevation) off the board. I don't think this gets you where you want to be.

The only solution I'm aware of is to create 3D models for each part in Pro/E, SolidWorks, etc. and run the interference checks through that application. Besides, if you assign representative colors, it makes a whiz-bang neat-o model that any marketing type would drool over.

I think this is where it's heading in the immediate future. How long until we are laying out boards in 3D?

When PADS first came out with the keepouts, I tried to express to them how useful it would be to be able to create a placement keepout of a defined height at the decal level for this sort of situation. This keepout would ignore the decal that it was built in to and would just be used to check against other components placed under it. Obviously, they still haven't seen the merit in this and we have since gone down the 3D modeling path here.


+Tom

[Randall]

Yes ,the only way is to create a 3D model in Pro/E. This will jet you where you want to be. We export the .EMN & .EMP files to Pro/E all the time. When we need a more accrete model of the part the Pro/E designer will use the part model of the desired decal and modify it to accurately represent the part. Whey can be as detailed as you need. Please see the attached .jpg for an example.

[Randall]

Wow! I did not expect the pic to be that big.

Sorry about that.

[randychase]

:)

IT BLOCKS THE SUN!!!!

:)

[Skip Yutkus]

BUNKER BUSTER!

[platedthruhole]

I too use Geometry.Heightattribute to pass the z-axis height to Pro-E or Solidworks. This information can be entered into the PADS part library or on the fly in the PADS database by adding the attribute with a right click after selecting the part. I use the find filter and search by the Part Type field. Note: this attribute data does not save to your Part librbay when you select components and do a "Save to Library". To preserve these added attributes you must enter them from the Part Editor in the Library toolbox.

I created a basic script to quickly audit the board for missing Geometry.Height attribute values and also view the ones that are completed. This script exports the part attribute data to Excel.

As a sidebar, to import IDf into Solidworks, I use a copy of Pro-E to do the initial import then I export from Pro-E to a STEP file, which SolidWorks reads in.

Note: When importing the IDf into Pro-E, always import as an assembly.

Enjoy!

Chris Taylor
Airborne Research

[Ross Clunie]

Thanks platedthruhole for the reply and the script. We are actually doing something similar ourselves now. but your script sounds usefull
Regards
Ross

[platedthruhole]

In creating your 3D model, check Samtec and Molex for 3D models of their connectors. If the model is not availble in Samtec's offering, you can submit a request for them to build it. It usually takes a little over a week.

When downloading connector models, if there is a choice between IGES and STEP, always choose the STEP file format. IGES is a more primative solid that is not capable of being measured or changed and is quite frustrating to use in a 3D assembly.