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Secrets of a Fabrication Drawing

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Essential to the success of any printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing project are the detailed notes included in the fabrication drawing. While the design files (typically Gerber or ODB++) contain the most basic structure and outline of the board design, it is the fabrication drawing that tells the manufacturer the specific details about a board that make it unique.
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Gerber File Issues: Tips to Avoid Most Common Problems

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The PCB manufacturing process is complex. The precision of the manufactured PCBs hinges on many things, but none more important than accurate and complete manufacturing or design data, most often Gerber files. A wide variety of PCB design software applications are used to produce manufacturing data, and the complexity of each design can vary significantly.
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pcb-gold

Circuit Board Design Tips for Hard or Soft Gold

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Due to the specialized nature of hard gold and soft gold surface finishes, many designers never encounter the particular challenges associated with these surface finishes. As a result, the first build for a hard or soft gold PCB can often be cumbersome and even surprising.
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Design Considerations with Heavy Copper

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Minimum line width is one of the first questions asked of a PCB manufacturer’s capabilities, but the answer rarely includes “depending on copper weight.” To simplify your design process and avoid problems at the time of manufacturing, we will demonstrate …
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PCB Manufacturing Tips and Tricks

Optimize PCB Manufacturing: Technical Tips for Success

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Designing a printed circuit board poses many challenges. It can be exhilarating to complete a design and send it off to manufacturing but later deflating to receive boards and identify a failure that could have been prevented. Was a mistake …
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Advantages of the Gerber X2 Format

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In 2014, a new Gerber format was released call Gerber X2 (or version 2) by Ucamco, owners of the Gerber standard. If this is news to you, Ucamco has put together an excellent 5 minute intro video which can be …
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Basic PCB Design Tips & Tricks

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Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are made from fiberglass reinforced plastic with the copper wiring in trace form. All the circuit board components are held in position by soldering the components into place after drilling holes in the demarcated areas on …
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5 Electronics Design Tips for Beginners

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The topic of Electronics Design can cover a vast array of technical options.  This article will focus on some of the basics. A schematic drawing is only one part of creating a design in electronic engineering. Your schematic should be …
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Printed Circuit Board Arrays

An Introduction to PCB Arrays

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What is a PCB Array? What do you think of when you hear the word “array”? Perhaps you think of an antenna array, or possibly some type of mathematical array or maybe even Video Graphics Array (VGA like the adapter …
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interview-microphone

The Gerber Format; an Interview with Ucamco

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For engineers new to PCB design, the term ‘Gerber files’ will quickly become a part of their everyday vernacular. And as such, it’s a topic we’ve covered frequently and will cover again today by going straight to the source via …
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pcb-obsolete

Standard Gerber Declared Obsolete

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In May 2014, Ucamco, the company that maintains Gerber specifications, released an “Open Letter to the Gerber User Community” and stated “Standard Gerber is now technologically obsolete.” Here Is Why There have been a number of important updates to the Standard …
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pcb-blue

Ground Structures May Compromise the Protection of PCBs

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Abstract Printed Circuit Board designers sometimes place protective devices on external signals as they enter a PCB and shunt the current from these devices to a separate “noise” ground distinct from the board signal ground. An analysis is given that …
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VS-rs274

RS274D vs RS274X Gerber file format

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Gerber File Extension For those that are not familiar with the Gerber file extension designation of rs274d vs rs274x we put together some basic information to help you understand the difference and why it is important in the PCB ordering …
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