I use a mechanical layer for part outlines, polarity marks, designator strings, and orientation marks. On boards with parts on both sides I unlock bottom side components and move the mechanical details to another mechanical layer. All of the ".designator" strings must be rotated for 2 axis readablity. For most rectangular boards I create the title block and border in protel and generate PDFs for the drill drawing, parts locator drawing and fabrication specification. With parts on both sides I need to make a mirrored title block for the bottom side parts locator page. On boards with complex shapes I will generally use a mechanical layer to draw the router path usually 0.093" diameter tool. Then export the completed design to autocad and produce the fabrication specification within autocad and again produce a PDF for the board house. When possible I prefer to use protel for all the board documents. If protel had better dimensioning tools and mirroring control for plotting title blocks/borders there would be no need for autocad for any of our board layouts.
Dave Eloranta [EMAIL PROTECTED] Locus Inc. 5540 Research Park Dr. Madison, WI -----Original Message----- From: Michael Biggs [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 11:09 AM To: 'Protel EDA Forum' Subject: [PEDA] Assembly Drawing generated from Protel99SE I have a question about how to handle Assembly Drawing plots. Does everyone use the Protel package with assembly drawing instructions on mechanical layers for submitting?... ..Or paste the board into another .PCB file with assembly instruction template and print size to fit page for the manf.... ..Or export a DXF and import into another software package with a Assembly Drawing template ready for editing before submitting? Also, I can generate PDF, SolidWorks, or Autocad files for the assembly manufactures to receive. I am just curious what is the most popular among you guys that actually use Protel and generate the files. It seems easy for me to add the assembly instructions on the Mechanical layers and print to a PDF format, but it sometimes can be too big for the 11x17 paper size and may even distort the film size when creating Gerber data. Any help or replies are appreciated, Michael J B * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
