SAN DIEGO, CA – Numerical Innovations LLC (NI) has launched Fab It! 2007, a full-featured CAM software package targeted towards the small-to-mid size company that would like to have “high-end” CAM software without having to spend thousands of dollars.
Fab It! 2007 is said to offer over 150 editing features for PCB designers, including the following:
• DRC/DFM checks (find all design errors before fab and assembly) • Supports Files: Gerber, ODB++, IPC Netlist, DXF, Postscript, PDF, HPGL and more • Panelize Wizard can merge different PCBs into one panel – save money on fabrication costs • Replaces the laborious and error-prone process of using Gerber viewers • World Class DXF translator, which supports Step and Repeat and more. Excellent for RF and chemical milling.
“Many designers from small-to-mid sized companies do not have proper CAM software to verify their designs for manufacturing (because of budget constraints), and must rely on free Gerber viewers or other inferior software; which can often lead to disastrous results in fabrication,” said Simon Garrison on NI. “These designers have complained because in most cases one license of ‘full-featured’ CAM software from the existing CAM vendors will cost $5K to $20K depending on options plus maintenance expenses; however they do not create enough designs per year to justify such a high cost. Most of these CAM vendors do offer a limited version of CAM software that offers some design checking, editing and other low-level features, but purposely leave out the ‘good stuff’ in hopes that you'll be forced into purchasing their more expensive products. Fab It! gives you everything a designer needs to get from design to fabrication.”
NI reports the company’s website has free trials, product reviews, interactive flash demonstration movies and a guarantee of satisfaction on all products. Fab It! is being offered at an introductory price of $395.
TOKYO, Japan – Westwind Air Bearings will exhibit the D1787 Storm 200,000 rpm PCB drilling spindle at the JPCA Show 2007, held from May 30to June 1, 2007, at Tokyo Big Sight. With a full speed range operation of 20,000 – 200,000-rpm true shaft speed, the Storm reportedly offers greater performance through improved small hole drilling and low airflow and low current. It is said to have the lowest power requirements on the market and is equipped for the industry standard 1/8” collet for high collet torque.
Itsuro Ishii, general manager of Sales and Marketing, GSI Group Japan Corp., Westwind Air Bearings Division, said, “We are excited to be exhibiting our latest spindle technologies at the JPCA Show. We continue to offer unrivalled service to our Japanese end users and machine OEMs and look forward to talking to anyone about how Westwind spindles can increase their productivity.”
NEWBERG, OR – WISE Software announced that the company has been working with UGS PLM Software, a division of Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D), under a formal OEM agreement signed in 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, WISE has developed a private label Assembly Reverse Engineering product for UGS called Gerber Expert.
Gerber Expert includes WISE Software’s latest technology for Assembly Reverse Engineering of Gerber data. Not to be confused with “CAD Reverse Engineering,” Assembly Reverse Engineering is said to focuse on extracting component centroid information from Gerber data. The centroid information is then used by UGS Tecnomatix PCB Assembly and Test related products in the optimization and programming of PCB assembly and test processes. Gerber Expert is offered in stand-alone configurations, as well as bundled with the UGS Tecnomatix TotalCAD option module. Migration offers are also available for users of certain UGS legacy products for a limited period of time. • Andy Wise, WISE Software’s president said, “We are delighted to have been chosen to work with UGS PLM Software on a project of this magnitude and importance. A typical assembly process flow comes to a virtual standstill when Gerber data is received instead of CAD data. Gerber Expert eliminates this problem and provides UGS Tecnomatix users with some of the most highly automated and accurate methods available for extracting component centroid information from generic Gerber data. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship between WISE Software and UGS PLM Software, as well as the acceptance of Gerber Expert within the UGS user community.”
Gerber Expert offers five different methods of component identification, including automatic processes that can work from a variety of information found within a standard bare-board production dataset. The results allow for a reverse engineering flow that can reportedly be completed in as little as a few seconds.
Gerber Expert also contains features from existing WISE Software products, which are said to be focused on helping users maintain maximum throughput while processing their data. HyperNETLIST increases netlist generation performance over similar competitive tools by five to10 times, while Graphical Netlist Comparison performance performs two to five times faster than those same competitive tools. A fully automatic Draw-to-Flash conversion is offered, which further reduces the amount of “hands-on” user time required to complete the conversion process. Rounding things out are WISE’s Paste Mask Stencil Enhancement technology, which offers significant levels of control during shape replacement, minimizing the number of iterations required to achieve the desired mask results. Gerber Expert also includes many other features from WISE Software’s existing core technology.
PITTSBURGH – DesignAdvance Systems Inc. has released CircuitSpace 2.1, a design automation tool for PCB component placement. CircuitSpace 2.1 is said to improve PCB design automation through patented auto-clustering technology, intelligent design reuse and replicated layout. Designers are reportedly able to shorten design cycle timelines by weeks and improve communication between design teams, saving design costs and improving productivity. “Since the initial release of CircuitSpace, we have worked closely with our customers in developing next generation of advanced automation technologies for PCB component placement,” said Edward Pupa, DesignAdvance’s CEO.
CircuitSpace v2.1 implements a hierarchical approach to printed circuit board design through enhanced autoclustering, intelligent design reuse and replication technologies. Reported capabilities of CircuitSpace v2.1 include:
AutoClustering
Intelligent physical design reuse and replication
Concurrent layout development project wide
Template generation for global library usage across divisions
GARDEN GROVE, CA – OK International has introduced its new DX-350 Series of digital dispenser/controllers. The microprocessor-driven, fully digital DX-350 series reportedly dispenses precise fluid volume with consistently high accuracy and repeatability. The system will be fully available in the second quarter.
The new series is comprised of the DX-350 and the DX-355 dispenser/controllers. With an operating pressure of 0-100 psi, the DX-350 is designed to dispense a wide range of fluid viscosities, while also controlling variation in pneumatic dispense valves. The DX-355, with an operating pressure of 0-15 psi, has been specifically developed for low viscosity fluid dispensing.
The DX-350 Series is said to guarantee size shot accuracy and control of drips between cycles through the standard inclusion of a digital timer, digital pressure and vacuum read out. In addition, the software further promotes ease-of-use with 10 programmable memories capable of storing and recalling the most frequently used dispensing cycle.
Product application is diverse, ranging from the precision deposition of surface mount solder paste and adhesive, to semiconductor under-fill in electronic workbench assembly. Operating from a 24V DC supply and supplied ready to use with a power adapter, air hose, sample tips, barrel, syringe adapter and syringe stand, the CE certified dispensers feature a timer range of 0.0080 to 60.00s. to further maximize operator flexibility.
The series’, robust housing is designed to optimize bench top efficiency. Since each unit can be stacked and fastened on top of each other and easily carried between work locations, its small footprint is ideal for manufacturers looking to conserve workspace.
MARLBOROUGH, MA – Flomerics Inc. has released Version 7 of its Flotherm electronics thermal analysis software featuring a Response Surface Optimization capability that the company believes is unrivalled in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis software. The Response Surface Optimization fits a 3D surface to the entire design space, reportedly enabling engineers to visualize the complete interaction of the design parameters with the design goal as well as identifying the optimum to a greater degree of accuracy.
The user begins Flotherm’s optimization process by defining design goals in the form of a “cost function”, and the ranges over which key design parameters may be varied. The cost function may be a single, simple value such as the junction temperature of a particular component, or a complex linear combination of values including weighting. Flotherm automatically creates and runs the required number of simulations to explore the entire design space in the most cost-effective way.
The optimization module then generates a “response surface” showing the value of the design goals for all the combinations of variables that were run. The response surface can be viewed through either a 2D or 3D chart window, said to make it easy to visualize the sensitivity of the cost function to changes in particular design parameters. The optimum value of the cost function is automatically identified and saved as a new project file. This project file can then be solved to confirm the global optimum.
Common real-world applications of the optimization process include: heatsink design, PCB component placement, fan/blower selection and the location of vents.
Flotherm Version 7 includes a new SmartPart that models heat pipes accurately and the ability to import 2D DXF files and extrude them directly into 3D shapes. The all-new Visual Editor post-processing window features “fly-through” and “fly-by” results animation, a new data entry/edit method based on property sheets, a Japanese user interface and other performance-enhancing features.
