PCBto3D

PCBto3D™ is a software tool that bridges the gap between your electrical and mechanical worlds. PCBto3D™ does this by passing the board design back and forth between your PCB design software and Siemens’ Solid Edge mechanical design software.

PCBto3D™ is used by companies around the world including: Micron, Belden, Adtran, Airbus, Hillrom, and others. 

Note: Some clients have requested anonymity and are therefore unlisted

About  PCBto3D™:

Starting with your board as designed using your PCB layout software, PCBto3D™ automatically creates a 3D Solid Edge solid model assembly of the board and components. Once the board design is imported into Solid Edge it can be treated like any other Solid Edge assembly & incorporated as a sub-assembly into mechanical designs. Then this accurate 3D-assembly model of the completed circuit board can be used for:

• 3D Interference Analysis

• Visualization Studies 

• Thermal Analysis 

• Technical Illustrations 

• General Engineering Studies 

How PCBto3D™works:

PCBto3D reads the Intermediate Data Format (IDF) file as a means of passing the PCB data between electrical and mechanical designs. By using the IDF format, you can make changes to the board design in Solid Edge. This can be done using standard Solid Edge editing commands to modify the solid geometry and reposition parts then you can use PCB specific commands that are added to Solid Edge when PCBto3D is installed. 

PCBto3D Requirements:

If your PCB design package can read & write an IDF file, you can use PCBto3D to create 3D assembly models. IDF is a standard developed by Mentor Graphics to allow integration between electrical and mechanical CAD systems.  

Intermediate Data Format (IDF) files are used to interpolate between electronic design automation (EDA) software and solid modeling mechanical computer-aided design (CAD) software

IDF is an open standard that most electrical CAD packages support. 

PCBto3D™ is used by companies around the world.