Importing Gerber/DXF from PCB into SolidWorks As the design of PCB's becomes more complex, the need to do 3D modeling of a printed circuit board also becomes more important. Many PCB design tools have an interface to SolidWorks via the IDF file. Working with circuit boards/gerber files I have designed a custom circuit board that I now want to model a case for, is there a way I can import the gerber files into Fusion to work with? Will Fusion create a model based on those files so I can test fit components before 3D printing the case? SOLIDWORKS PCB proudly supports most Altium documents. All documents contain the same file extension, while the PCB document requires a very short import pro.
Importing Gerber/DXF from PCB into SolidWorks
As the design of PCB's becomes more complex, the need to do 3D modeling of a printed circuit board also becomes more important. Many PCB design tools have an interface to SolidWorks via the IDF file format -- however this approach is useful mostly for components, connectors, board outline and mounting holes. If you need conductor and plated through hole data in 3D, IDF is not a good solution. And, of course, if your PCB layout tool does not support IDF you are out of luck.
AutoCAD DXF?
An initial thought is to use SolidWorks ability to import AutoCAD's DWG/DXF format as a way to move the board data into SolidWorks. For example, it is pretty easy to convert most Gerber files into DXF. However those that have tried this have found it does not work as well as one would hope.
Issues?
Polylines with width not supported - SolidWorks doesn't read the width of the polyline (this may have changed in recent versions of SW) so if you are using polylines with width in AutoCAD to represent traces you lose them.
Layers not Supported - most PCBs have multiple layers and you want the conductors on each layer to stay on the layer. If you try to import multiple layers into solidworks you'll find that they all get mushed together.
Manual Extrusions - You'll have to manually select the lines/arcs and extrude them to get a 'part' in Solidworks. While this is not a problem for a few pieces, a large PCB makes this quite aggravating.
No Z Data - assuming you have a 'stack' of conductor and dielectric layers, you have to import them one at time and then assemble them. Again, very time consuming.
Material Properties - it would be nice if you could pass the fact that your conductors are copper and that your board is FR4 (or alumina or whatever material) but these attributes have to be attached manually.
Examples of DXF into SolidWorks
It might be worthwhile to actually demonstrate some of these issues mentioned above. We are going to run two experiments: Gerber to DXF using a standard converter and Gerber to DXF using Artworks GBRUNION. What is the difference?
GBR2DXF
round pads to circles in DXF draws to polylines with width no support for negative or paint/scratch layer operations supports multiple layers no understanding of drill holes no understanding of stackup position | GBRUNion
can recover arcs and circles support for negative or paint/scratch layer operations supports multiple layers no understanding of drill holes no understanding of stackup position |
Here is the set of Gerber Files we are going to use for our demo
The red layer is the top.gbr, the green layer is the bottom.gbr, the blue layer is an inner power/ground (drawn in reverse as is typical for such layers) and the yellow layer represents the drill data which runs all the way through the board. A magenta layer is hardly visible but contains the board outline. You can download the set of Gerber files as solidworks_gerber.zip
For clients using Altium Designer, this guide will help you configure and output Gerber files as well as NC Drill files in RS274X format. It is assumed that you have finished designing your schematic as well as PCB layout. You should have both a .SchDoc file (schematic) and a .PcbDoc file (PCB layout) at this stage.Generating Gerber Files
Step 1: First, navigate to “File” tab at the top left corner of the program window. Next select “Fabrication Outputs” and in that drop-down menu select “Gerber Files”.Step 2: Once Gerber Files is selected the window below will appear which will allow you to specify the units and number digits before or after the decimal point.
Step 3: Next, using the tabs at the top of the window, navigate to the “Layers” tab. This will allow you to select which layers will be used for the output gerber files. If you are unsure which layers will be used, select the “Plot Layers” tab in the bottom left of the window and click “All ON” so it is highlighted. This will select all possible layers in the project for output.
Step 4: Afterward, using the tabs at the top of the window again, navigate to the “Apertures” tab. While in this window, ensure that the “Embedded Apertures (RS274X)” box is checked. The rest of the window can be left in its default settings.
How To Open Gerber Files
Step 5: Finally, once again using the tabs at the top of the window, navigate to the “Advanced” tab. The settings in this window can be left default unless your design has special requirements. When you are finished press “Ok” in the bottom right of the window which will begin the output process for your gerber files.
Step 6: Once your main layer files are completed you need to output your NC Drill files. When fabricating your PCBs, these files indicate the size and placement of the holes which will be drilled for vias, mounting points, etc. First, return to the top left of the program and select “File”. In the drop-down menu select “Fabrication Outputs” and then “NC Drill Files”.
Step 7: The previous step will open up the NC Drill File setup window. This will allow you to specific units and the number of digits before or after the decimal. This window can be left default unless your project requires specific parameters.
Step 8: Finally, if you have saved all your files in one location you should have a similar number of files as shown in the picture below. Remember when submitting your files, it is best to compress the files in a .zip file to ensure they remain grouped together.
If you still find any steps involved in this process, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Bittele Electronics sales team by sending an email to sales@7pcb.com, or calling our Toronto office at 1-416-800-7540. We are happy to help with any questions or concerns you may have and we look forward to working with you.
Solidworks Pcb Design
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