Hi Everyone,
I need help with CircuitWorks. We have had the add-in for some time and have not used it. One of our electronics guys made a beautiful file in eagle cad pro, and I want to import it into SW. Now I have never used CW before so please bare with me...
Should I open it through the CW tab or the regular file open and is there a difference? (please don't judge me on stupid questions:)
Whatever the open menu, I see an IDB file (do I need this IDL or IDF that I have read in all your posts?), (should I ask the Electronics guy to export differently)
When I open this IDB file, what do I do next (again sorry, newbie here). The CW small window opens up, and I see my board in all it's glory. (Do I drop in the components at this point? Or does eagle cad do that? Also do I have a library or do I need to make one? If I click on the Library button i get some parts that reside on my computer?Do I need this IDF or IDL at this point?)
It seems I do not have many options other than just creating the board (which is massive, 2000 holes)... so when click the build model button it makes a supper thick board 11in x 7in x 6in thk, It is suppose to be .125in thk. I know I can just dbl click on it and adj the thickness to what I need, but what gives?
I will take whatever help I can get.
You need to look at SW World 2009 presentation first so you have a basic understanding how it works, otherwise everyone is going to be shooting in the dark:
http://www.solidworks.com/pages/swwproceedings/presentations.html
apparently the 2009 presentations are not currently available
go here, and indicate you'd like them made available:
https://forum.solidworks.com/message/195833#195833
but to answer two of your questions:
CircuitWorks-Open ECAD File from drop down menu to open IDF file created from the ECAD used
you will need models of each comp on the PCB assembly otherwise CW will extrude the outline from ECAD and make you a model
this is fine for fit (assuming height was entered correctly in ECAD) but won't cut it if your gioal is to get OOhs & aahs (something pretty)
just exactly how to do this is somewhat explained in the presentation and once you have a little understanding of it you can ask more specific questions
your components are not there because CW doesn't know where to find them:
if you open the ECAD file you'll see a tree of board, components, and annotations
look at the comps that have a yellow triangle with an "!" in it
those are the ones CW cannot find
right click on one, you can:
tell CW to exclude it, extrude it (CW makes the model), or properties
look at the properties, this is the info CW is looking for to find an existing model(or will use to extrude, you can give a height there if it is wrong or not entered)
gather your models and place somewhere
go to Library and from drop down menu: Tools-Import parts from folder (the place you just put your models)
now make sure the info from library matches the info (the properties of each part you looked at above) in your board (the INF file you brought into CW)
you'll actually want to do this differently once you understand it, but this will get you started