SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide – Part 6 PCB

November 21, 2020 by John Van Engen

SOLIDWORKS PCB has 3 parts. SOLIDWORKS PCB is the Application used to design PCBs. SOLIDWORKS PCB Services is the ‘bridge’ that connects PCB to SOLIDWORKS and allows users to be set up. SOLIDWORKS PCB Add-in is the SOLIDWORKS Add-in that allows you to work with the data within SOLIDWORKS. This is automatically installed in SOLIDWORKS provided you’re running 2016 SP3 or newer. If Installing a new instance, you can choose the Individual option: If adding SOLIDWORKS PCB to an existing installation you will choose the ‘Modify the individual […]

Introducing the SOLIDWORKS PCB Viewer

November 14, 2019 by Brian Cooke

If you have a seat of SOLIDWORKS PCB, but would like managers, design reviewers, or other designers to be able to view the schematics or layouts of boards without using that seat, then you’ll be happy to know that there is now a free SOLIDWORKS PCB viewer. You will no longer have to produce PDF documentation for a review. They can view all of the PCB files in their native format, and just produce the PDFs for release documentation. The […]

SOLIDWORKS 2020 What’s New – PCB Enhancements

November 1, 2019 by Brian Cooke

Duplicate Pad Designators Traditionally, PCB designers would make their PCB footprints with mounting holes and label those holes as pad 0. Multiple mounting holes would all be labeled pad 0. And pretty much every PCB design software doesn’t have an issue with that. SOLIDWORKS PCB hasn’t had an issue with that either, except for when it comes to the collaboration with SOLIDWORKS CAD. We couldn’t handle it on the mechanical end and required people to label every pad with a […]

Improve Communication and Boost Productivity with Circuit Board Design Software

July 15, 2019 by Angelle Erickson

Circuit board design is a complex process requiring the expertise of both mechanical and electrical engineers, and everything from your initial circuit layout to mechanical/electrical integration can quickly become frustrating and time-consuming. By working between two teams (often with multiple design iterations), it is easy for communication to break down, losing valuable insights and even entire revisions that lead to expensive mistakes and frustrating stalls in production. Software created specifically for circuit board design can help engineers work faster and […]

Nano Dimension and the Power of PCB 3D Printing

March 6, 2019 by Angelle Erickson

In the time of industry 4.0, remaining innovative and evolving quickly is key to manufacturing success, especially when it comes to electronics. Yet manufacturers creating PCBs and other electronic components are often held back by outsourced designs that can delay the design cycle by weeks or even months. To address this issue, companies like Nano Dimension have worked to adopt 3D printing to fit the unique needs of electronics development. Through revolutionary new hardware and materials, electronics designers and manufacturers […]

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019: New DXF & DWG Format Capabilities

January 30, 2019 by Angelle Erickson

DXF and DWG formats have been around for quite some time and different design groups have used these formats to exchange graphical data for different purposes. SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019 has added these output capabilities.

SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019: Copper Traces and Decals

January 17, 2019 by Angelle Erickson

In SOLIDWORKS 2019, there are new capabilities for PCB collaboration to be able to import copper as well as decals into SOLIDWORKS. The control can be found in the setting for the collaboration and the first thing you’ll want to use is turn the option off for copper. In my example, I’ve pushed my design from SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019 with the copper option off and opened it inside of SOLIDWORKS Mechanical. In the image to the left, you can see […]

New Component Flip, Fix, and Search Features in SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019

November 7, 2018 by Angelle Erickson

In SOLIDWORKS 2019 Mechanical and PCB collaborate in one ecosystem effortlessly. With this collaboration, SOLIDWORKS 2019 added new support for flipping and fixing or locking components. Keep reading to learn more about these new features and see them in action.

New Features Improve Collaboration in SOLIDWORKS PCB 2019

October 23, 2018 by Angelle Erickson

When you design a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) there are often times when you need to create barriers or height restrictions for component placements as envelopes. To do that, you can place a component called envelope. Once placed, you can change the component properties to be an envelope. You can then mate it into the position where you want the envelope to be placed on your printed circuit board. Once complete, you can then push the changes to SOLIDWORKS PCB […]

SOLIDWORKS PCB: Creating an Integrated Library

March 29, 2018 by Brian Cooke

An Integrated Library Package (*.LibPkg) is a type of SOLIDWORKS PCB project which is used, not to layout a pcb, but to gather together schematic symbols and pcb footprints in order to produce an integrated library. Schematic symbols are drawn in the Schematic Library Editor, and model references/links defined for each, along with any parametric information. These are stored across one or more schematic library files. Referenced models can include PCB 2D/3D component models, circuit simulation models, and signal integrity […]