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All CollectionsPADS Professional Premium with DFM Quickstart GuideChapter 1: Getting Started with the PADS Professional Desktop
Quickstart Lesson 6: Creating Fabrication and Assembly Files
Quickstart Lesson 6: Creating Fabrication and Assembly Files

Creating Fabrication and Assembly Files

Paul Welch avatar
Written by Paul Welch
Updated over 11 months ago

Lesson 6: Creating Fabrication and Assembly Files

Board fabricators will typically require a minimum set of design files in order to build your board. In this exercise, we focus on adding dimensions to the board and generating a set of fabrication and assembly files.

Adding Dimensions

  1. Within PADS Professional Layout, go to: File ► Open.

  2. Navigate to C:\PADS_Professional_QuickStart\Lesson 6 - Creating Fabrication and Assembly Files\PCB\LED_Flasher.pcb, select the file named LED_Flasher.PCB, and click Open.

  3. Go to: Draw ► Dimension ► Stacked.

  4. Left click once on the top left corner of the board, then nearest edge to the right.

  5. Move your cursor up to a desired height and click once again to place the dimension.

  6. While the command is still active, click the furthest top right edge of the board and move your cursor up to place a second stacked dimension.

  7. Press the Escape key twice to cancel the command.

  8. Repeat steps 3-7 to dimension the board’s height.

Exporting STEP 3D output

You can export 3D STEP outputs of your board. This file can then be imported into MCAD software.

  1. Go to: 3D ► Export.

  2. Set Type to STEP.

  3. Under Metal Element Options, enable the options shown to allow those objects to be included in the STEP 3D export (Particularly copper traces, component pads and silkscreen information).

  4. Click “Save” to export the 3D Step file to the Output directory of your project.

  5. When the indicator stating “Export succeeded” appears, your STEP files have been successfully generated.

  6. Click “Close”.

Exporting 3D PDF output

To generate a PDF document that includes a self-contained 3D model of your design.

  1. Go to: 3D ► Export.

  2. Set Type to 3D PDF.

  3. Click “Save” to generate the 3D PDF file in your project’s Output directory. Close the Export window.

Configuring Batch output file generation

Instead of individually generating output files, most file types can be batch generated by PADS Professional.

In PADS Professional, simply setup your output configuration for each output type (For example go to: Output ► Gerber or Bill of Materials and setup then save your desired options. You can later batch generate all configurations by going to Output

► Manufacturing Output, and click Generate.

  1. Go to: Output ► Manufacturing Output.

  2. Within the Manufacturing Output window, click the ODB++ setup icon.

  3. Within the ODB++ Output window, set the ODB++ Setup file drop down to LED_Flasher_ODBSetup.

  4. This will load pre-configured ODB++ settings such as layer mapping and overlay configuration. You can save time by sharing these files with other users or make them part of a project template.

  5. Click “OK”, then “Generate”

  6. Click “NO” to save current settings if prompted.

    You can also go to: Output ► ODB++, then click Generate. This method will

    automatically preview the ODB++ files for you to review before sending to the

    fabrication house.

  7. The system will begin generating the appropriate files and store them in your project output directory.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed Chapter One of the PADS Professional QuickStart guide!

Up Next: Chapter 2: Getting Started with the PADS Professional Cloud Apps

Chapter 2

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