AutoCad Assembly Drawing Macro

[Jason Roetz]

Here's my Autocad VB macro to strip out all the junk in a dxf export from Pads. It strips out all the junk, and leaves you with the part outlines and ref des. from layers "Assembly Drawing Top" & "Assembly Drawing Bottom". It also purges out all the unused layers. You have to make sure you've got part outlines and ref des. labels for the assembly drawing layers. Also, it takes a bit to run on large boards, so please be patient.

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[Jason Roetz]

After some technical difficulties, here's the macro which I talked about in my earlier post. It's a big time saver for me! Enjoy!

Jason

5/10/02 - Updated file.
Corrected incompatibility problem with AutoCAD R14.

Jason

[Pilgrim]

Hi,

I was wandering how I would load this VB script. I can't seem to find a way to load a VB script into Autocad R14.

I'd appreciate it if you can kindly show us.

:confused:
Pilgrim

[randychase]

Not sure about R14, but try typing in APPLOAD at the AutoCad command prompt.

Hope that helps! Let us know.

[davepcb]

I'm fairly new at this VB stuff. I was able to load the file but when I tried to run it I got a error stating "Can't find project or Library".
Does anyone know what that means?

thanks,
davepcb

[Carl S]

Jason,
yea I also can't figure out how to run it from autocad lite. The only script type command is "script" which looks for something with a .scr extension. What version do you use and how do you run it?

[Jason Roetz]

Yep, there's your problem. It won't run with AutoCad LT. From your previous post on the other thread, I assumed that you were running the full AutoCad. Sorry about that.

Jason

[Carl S]

Oh well,
thanks anyway, I will hang on to it in the event I get upgraded to the "FULL POWER" of AutoCad

[Jason Roetz]

Here's the latest version of my macro, updated to work with AutoCAD 2005.

Enjoy!

Jason

[Jason Roetz]

Yet another update!

Additions/Corrections as follows:

The PurgeAll command finally works!
I've also added additional code to mirror the bottom side view such that you have both a top and bottom side view after the macro finishes.

[davepcb]

Jason,

Can you give me some basic instructions for how to run this script? I was able to figure out how to "load" the application but can't find a way to make it "run".

Thanks,
Dave

[Jason Roetz]

Dave,

Export a dxf file from PPCB, making sure you've got part outlines and reference designators on layer "Assembly Drawing Top" aka Layer 27. Make sure the dxf file includes layers Top, Bottom, Assembly Drawing Top and Assembly Drawing Bottom. Then open the dxf file in AutoCAD and run the macro. It'll clear out all the extra junk that comes over from PPCB and leaves you with the board outline and the top and bottom assembly views.

Let me know how it works for you.

Jason

[davepcb]

Jason,

It worked! Thanks for the excellent macro and advice.

Dave

[secunn]

Jason,
I tried using your script and it works great except for one thing.
The bottom side component silk is coming through along with the assembly component outline. The top side is coming through just fine and the ref des for both sides is fine. I'm using PADS 2005 SP2 and ACAD 2005.

Any suggestions?

Steve C.

[Jason Roetz]

Steve,

Have you changed the layer names in PADS? If possible, send me the raw dxf file and I'll look into it for you.

My email is jasoncroetz at eaton dot com

Jason

[secunn]

You should have the file in your mail box.

[jenniferl]

i seem to still be having problems running the macros in autocad.
please help. thanks!! :)

[Jason Roetz]

What exactly seems to be the problem?