ALTIUM

Measurements
Base measurements/rules on what manufacturers can do.

MANUFACTURERS IN CPT
Trax
Cirtech
WH Circuit
PCB Pool (intl, use SA site)

Files For Manufacturer

Should have 12 files to give the manufacturer.
File >> Fabrication Outputs >>
o

o
o

Top & Bottom

- Legend
- Stop
- Layer
Outline
NC Drill

>>> Overlay; text on board

>>> the mask; stopping paint going over solder areas
>>> where the copper tracks go
>>> the dielectric for structure
>>> positions and sizes of drill holes

NC Drill
Format lowest (at the top) >>> margin for error
Becomes a .txt file in Project Outputs

Gerber Files

(9 ticks)
Produces a Camtastic file. You can see the layers
separatelt by clicking the Camtastic tab in the
bottom left corner of the screen.

Produces 9 .gXX files where XX indicates the layer it shows. Rename as follows
BGL Bottom Signal
GBO Bottom overlay
GBP Bottom paste
GBS Bottom step
[G] Gerber > [B/T] Bottom/Top > [L/O/P/S] Layer, overlay, paste, step

Bill of Materials
Done from schematic, not PCB.
Good idea to put value & tolerance in the comments field of a component as
well as the value field. (Sometimes one is lost).
Reports >> Bill of Materials
Untick Relative Path to Template File

Pick and Place Files

From PCB.
File >>> Assembly Outputs >>> Generates pick and place files
Choose CSV and metric
Creates a .csv file.

Planes
It costs $$$ to remove copper from board, so best to leave it on in places with no
tracks. This is a plane.
Click: Place Polygon Plane icon
Islands: small bits of copper left in small gaps dont need to change.
Arc Approximation: shapes to put around circlular holes/masks etc. dont
change
Layer: should be bottom layer
Connect to net: GND makes it a big GND point

Thermals
Smaller connections between components an planes that make it easier to solder
the component. Without them, the heat of the soldering iron is quickly dissipated
by the connected copper.
When creating/editing the polygon planes you can choose Pour Over All Same
Net Objects.