Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design SMT Electronics Assembly Manufacturing Forum

Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design Forum

SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.


gcprevue/gerber ez Teach For Momentum Printer Inspection Btm side Issue

Views: 914

#81749

GCpowerplace Inspection for Momentum Printer Bottom layer Issue | 15 January, 2019

I'm looking for any experienced Graphicode software users for advice. We use Gerber EZ Teach(GC Powerplace) to offline program 2D inspection on our Momentum printers. I have an issue with mirrored apertures when creating my Bottom Side inspection program. The Top layer always works as expected. The bottom Gerber layer must be mirrored in X(as expected), to export the correct board layout.The problem is any non-symmetrical component footprint that is affected by an X mirror, must display improperly in the software, to display properly on the printer. For instance, if my Software screen displays an SOT23 with pin 1 to the right , with correct board layout, The printer import will display the correct board layout, but with pin 1 to the right. This has become very troublesome for off-angle parts(45 degree) and non-symmetrical pad layouts. If, I import my bottom Gerber, mirror it immediately to have correct layout and footprints, but treat it as a Top through the whole process, everything works as expected. I never have an issue with Top layers. Therefore I have concluded it has something to do with the way the software treats the Bottom side, most likely during the Centroid Extraction , or creation of the Parts layer. I have done some testing, but I cant seem to put my finger on what I'm doing wrong. The only work around I have is to leave the non-symmetrical parts displayed improperly in the software, or to program the Bottom layer in its own project file, and tell the software it is a Top layer along every step. This is annoying, as it doubles the amount of GWK files I need to manage in my library. Any help is appreciated.

reply »

#81750

GCpowerplace Inspection for Momentum Printer Bottom layer Issue | 15 January, 2019

Hi,

I personally use my checkplot files to teach paste inspection machines. These should already be in the right view so you can treat them as individual top sides(no flip needed for both sides)

reply »

#81751

GCpowerplace Inspection for Momentum Printer Bottom layer Issue | 15 January, 2019

I also use these when available. The problem still persists for Bottom Paste/Parts layer. The non-symmetric(x axis) footprints in the Btm part layer, display correctly in the software, But then display incorrectly when imported into the Printer. The board layout will be correct, But individual components will be mirrored in the X axis. It can't be the Printer, because The designated Top Parts layer always work correctly. I'm wondering if I've been using the (facing up/facing down) option in layer properties opposite of how it should, and thus created said problem. When you use a checkplot file, which "facing" do you use for your bottom solder layer?

reply »

See Your 2024 IPC Certification Training Schedule for Eptac

Manufacturing Software