Welcome to PentaLogix Views

Welcome to the first issue of PentaLogix Views; an electronic newsletter dedicated to our customers, potential customers, and anyone who has an interest in PentaLogix products and services. Each issue of the newsletter will contain useful information and hints to optimize the performance and productivity of your CAM & Test operations using PentaLogix Software.

There are four columns that will appear in each newsletter:

For the CAM user, “Designers Tips” contains information of interest for our ViewMate, ViewMaster and ViewMasterPLUS customers. This column will discuss interesting and efficient ways to use our lower cost products. Each issue will give you a hint about an undocumented feature or a suggested workaround to common problem areas or maybe highlight a new feature or two.

Also for the CAM user, “Fabricators Tips” contains information for our more sophisticated CAM users. This column will focus on issues that are exclusive to our high end CAMMaster software. Particular attention will be placed on getting the most out of CAMMaster by utilizing the built in automation capability. Special emphasis will be given to automation utilizing VB.NET.

“Test Points” wil be an invaluable resource for users of our ProbeMaster, FixMaster and Verify products. Discover hidden, undocumented capabilities. Learn advanced test techniques that will help you generate accurate test results in record time.

“In Development” is a special section of the newsletter that is accessed via a link to our premier web site.“In Development” is devoted exclusively to registered PentaLogix customers with valid maintenance contracts. This section of the newsletter discusses planned features and new product ideas. It is intended for the serious user who wants to get a look at where we’re headed . . . and for customers who would like to provide PentaLogix with feedback and guidance about future development plans.

“PentaLogix Views” will be distributed on on a regular basis. We plan on each issue having something of interest for all of our readers. So please take a moment to read the articles in this, our inaugural issue. If you would like us to address a particiular subject of interest to you, drop us an email and give us your ideas...

Best regards,

The PentaLogix Staff.

PentaLogix Has a New Home!
The corporate offices of PentaLogix LLC have recently moved to a new, larger facility in Walnut Creek California. This move will help PentaLogix better serve you in the future.
Our new address is:

PentaLogix LLC
2940 Camino Diablo
Suite 310
Walnut Creek, Ca. 94597

Phone: (925) 952-3890
Fax: (925)934-6978

Get more out of your CAM editor. "Designers Tips" has articles for the designer and occasional user. "Fabricators Tips" is focused more to the CAMMaster user and board fabricator...

Importing Files

Do you have files that you need to view or edit but you don't know how to import them? Did you try File -> Open only to realize that this is for files that have already imported then saved in the PentaLogix .bin format? So you then realize that you need to use File-> Import. You now see a menu with several options for importing various data formats. Don't know the format? Give "Guess" a try.

PentaLogix is always improving or adding new file formats. We believe that we have the most extensive and most reliable file conversion utilities in the industry. We recently added a new feature for users that have a file to import but they don't know what format it is in. Or maybe they just want a quick way to import a single file. File -> Import -> Guess is just the ticket! After selecting "Guess", you will see a menu to browse for the file you want to import, then select "Import". The "Guess" routine will try to identify the file as:

Aperture list file
Gerber file
Drill file
HPGL file
PentaLogix Job file
Barco DPF file
ODB++ file
Netlist file

After "Guess" identifies the file, you may be asked further questions. For example, an aperture file import may ask you for the Unit of Measure, UOM. Other Formats such as ODB++, DPF, FO4, and PentaLogix .bin files have all the necessary information embedded in the file. Those sort of files will import effortlessly. Other formats such as Gerber extended or Excellon drill files, may have some or all the information in the file. For these types of files, you will see a dialog box like this:

In the upper right corner of the dialog box, you will see the approximate board size of the file. Also, if any of the import parameters were defined in the file, those boxes will be grayed out. In the picture above the Arc Interpretation was defined by the file, so it is grayed out. If the approximate board size seems wrong, you can change any of the non-grayed parameters then click "Update". The board size will be recalculated and displayed. Sometimes it is helpful to view the file to determine the import parameters. "View FIle" will open the file in notepad for you. Once you are satisfied with the results, press "OK" and the file will import into your CAM editor.

"File -> Import -> Guess" is a powerful tool to import different file formats. You may occasionally need to use the other import options but for the vast majority of your work, "Guess" is the tool of choice. Of course, Import Zip, and Directory are still the tools of choice when you are importing multiple files.

Automate Using VB.NET

CAMMaster is a very high performance CAM software program. Most of the functions that you can perform manually can be automated by utilizing the methods and properties that are exposed by CAMMaster. These methods and properties can be controlled by writing “scripts”. Scripts are essentially a recorded set of instructions that tell CAMMaster to perform a desired set of operations. There are many advantages to utilizing scripts with CAMMaster:

Repetitive and/or tedious operations can be performed very quickly. This results in reduced operator fatigue.
Once programmed properly, scripts don’t make mistakes. This insures higher quality.
Using scripts can help users that are not familiar with CAMMaster become productive quickly.
Scripts can be written to insure that no “procedural steps” are missed when generating your CAM data.

There are many ways to generate CAMMaster scripts. You can utilize the built in “SAX Basic” editor to record, store and run macros (simple scripts). To get more information about recording and running macros please refer to the "CAM Software Users Guide", chapter 13.

Those who are familiar with the Visual Basic programming language can utilize it to automate CAMMaster. We believe that Microsoft's Visual Basic.NET is the prefered way to create the most powerful scripts. To get more information on how to use Visual Basic.NET with CAMMaster, please download: ScriptingwithCAMMasterusingVB_NET.pdf

Dedicated to FixMaster and ProbeMaster users...

Flip Test	Get the pdf version

Looking to get more out of your testers? Got an idle single sided tester? Try running double sided and multi-layer jobs on these testers. All you need is FixMaster and a little knowledge about the flip test option.

Flip Test Background

A Flip test is where the two sides of the board are tested separately. When you run the Flip Test operation, FixMaster finds a common via between sides for each net, saves the test points assigned to the via and any surface mounts, then deletes other test points to eliminate extraneous test points. For each netlist, FixMaster will keep all the SMD test points and throw away all midpoint vias or thru-hole test points.

FixMaster will try to find a common node (keeping their test points) for the netlist using the following criteria:
1) The largest thru-hole or
2) An endpoint via if no thru-hole exists or
3) Any via if the above two criteria fails.
4) The common node is to be as center to the extent of the netlist as possible

Flip Test Settings

Setup for a flip test is much like it would be for a double sided test. Before doing the flip test, generate the test points.
Go to Setup -> Test Point and click Generate. Select only the following options:

Test single pt nets
Test vias
Use IPC soldermask

The flip test feature itself will delete unnecessary midpoints. Now generate the test points.
Go to the action menu and click Flip Test:

Select whether you want a one-fixture or two fixture flip test.
For a one fixture flip test, distance between the flipped test points in the X and Y offset boxes.
Select for single nodes on the component and/or solder side of the board. This option assures that all netlists have at least one test point on each board side. This will ensure a complete test for shorts.

Be sure to drop pins after performing the flip test option. If the user has already dropped pins, the dropped pins will ‘smear’ across the two test areas. The user must un-assign the pins before flipping. Starting with version 9.2, FixMaster will automatically un-assign the pins for flip-test.

Note:

While the FixMaster software will attempt to test nets for continuity to a common via on both sides of the board, and will test nets that have both endpoints as thru-holes from one side, there is no way to ensure all nets going from one side of a board to another are continuous. In other words, in some cases, not all vias can be 100% tested on a flip test fixture.

PentaLogix Looking For Beta Partners

Our development team is working on a large scale software project code named “Wolverine”. Powerful and compact, the wolverine is probably the fiercest animal on earth. We aim to develop Wolverine into the best PCB CAM package available on the market. Get connected...

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