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 Manufacturing Outputs
 Steps for panalizing pcb's
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PeterHer

Netherlands
9 Posts

Posted - 29 Jul 2022 :  07:14:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi All,

I have a small pcb which I want to place on a panel.
I followed these instructions (https://numberone.com/faq?85) but I don't quit understand it.

On screen are my panels but no traces are visible.
When I create an output only these items are selected:
Top Silk, Bottom Silk, Gerber drill Data, NC Drill Data and Drill Ident Drawing.

Is a panel more like a file for the router to cut out the pcb's or does a panel have to include all traces as well? I can manage to output a panel with traces, but by default copper planes are not selected, there must be a reason for this.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance.

Greetings, Peter

Iain Wilkie

United Kingdom
1019 Posts

Posted - 29 Jul 2022 :  08:50:46  Show Profile  Visit Iain Wilkie's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I never use this feature so cannot really help.

Normally the manufacturer will create the panel from the board gerbers and you don't need to worry about doing this.

Iain
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edrees

United Kingdom
783 Posts

Posted - 29 Jul 2022 :  09:37:02  Show Profile  Visit edrees's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Unlike Iain, I have extensive experience of the Panel Editor. Over the years I have designed 2 panels, - the latter quite recently, and even then I had to call on Peter (Tech Support)!

The final Panel Gerber pack should contain everything a single pcb Gerber pack has, all silk screens, all copper layers, resists, solder paste etc. etc. Unfortunately, the Panel editor only lets you view the panel as built up with pcb "blanks", -otherwise the screen refresh rate would be so slow with a dense multi-layer pcb if all details were visible.

The important thing is to make sure all your original pcb layers (Design Tech) are "mapped" into the Panel, otherwise they will not appear in the panel design and this is what I suspect may have happened in your panel.

Finally triple check your Gerber pack with an independent Gerber viewer to ensure all your layers are there and as you expect.

If all else fails, ask your pcb manufacturer to do it for you (which, like Iain, is what I do 99.99% of the time!).

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, the quick File=>Print (Windows/PDF) feature doesn't always give you the results you expect in Panel Editor, unless you have already performed the long-winded Output => Plot/Printing setup.

Edit. Also make sure that under Plotting and Printing =>Settings that both "Panel Outlines" and "Plot Each PCB Design Contents" are ticked, - but you would have been aware of this as you've read the FAQ!




Edited by - edrees on 29 Jul 2022 14:20:17
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