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MBHP Solid Models


jab
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Hi folks -

 

I'm working on designing my enclosure in Solidworks, and I'm interested to make some solid models of the different modules to help design my prototype. I didn't see any existing attempts like this, but maybe the community can point my towards something i could use or otherwise collaborate on/with?

 

If not... I think I can take an eagle file (i believe a single .brd file will work), do some post-processing, and bring that into solidworks for the component modeling - it's supposed to be somewhat automatic, but we'll see how that goes. Does anyone have any experience or suggestion with this? (Disclaimer, I'm a mechanical engineer by education, but never modeled electronic components or assembled boards before)

 

My intention of course is to give these to the community, in whatever file formats I can export. (Maybe these can be added to the GIT repository?) I'm a bit time limited though, and only have physical parts of the LPC17 Core, DIO_MATRIX, DIO, and DIN, so those would be my first priorities to make (more or less in that order).

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'll probably start experimenting this weekend.

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Eagle has some 3D rendering capabilities, maybe that could be a starting point - although I am not sure if this data can be exported. I am a KICAD user, and KICAD is using Wings3D to render PCBs and components. It is possible to convert the manufacturer's models (usually provided in STEP format) to be used in KICAD.

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You can use dxf.ulp  in eagle. The Dxf can be opened in solidworks, but will need some editing, if you want to create a 3D-Object with it.

This will only produce the board, without components. It's useful for checking dimensions, though.

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maybe you whanto to check the RS Designspark tool. They seam to integrate a 3d visualizer over a also free available CAD modeling software... 

I once did a Eagle3D. There is a Website that descibes the steps but its not integrated in eagle it self, its kind of a addon... And works with SketchUp from Google. And the output is mostly just the board with pads, drills and wires...

novski

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the input guys, sorry for not posting back sooner, I've been busy with work and don't get much done at night before falling asleep...

 

So far I haven't had a lot of luck with this... I probably wouldn't have gone down this road had I known the challenges (to be honest, I could just make a simple model to act as a "keep out" zone for the purposes of my project), but I'm I like the idea of having an electrical schematic and board layout linked to a 3d solid model - so I guess you could say i'm committed now (or mostly just stubborn).

 

The initial method I came across of using a ULP to convert eagle board files is pretty tedious - the "generate_3d_data.ULP" will generate an IDF file, but it requires component heights be specified on an additional eagle layer, and I haven't been able to make that work so far. So far it just leaves me a board with holes, which isn't a bad start but less than i was hoping for. If I were inclined, I could use the board and add components to it, but I'm going to look into more automated solutions first.

 

Per ilmenator, I took a look at Eagle3d and KiCad, but as far as I can tell those generate mesh based models (think blender, maya, etc) rather than parametric models used in cad software... these tend to be difficult to bring into solid works and are more useful for visualisation. I did install kicad for testing though, but i haven't done much with it yet.

 

The dxf.ulp mentioned by Imp is a similar situation, works to create a board, but still have to deal with adding components somehow. 

 

Novski mentioned designspark, which so far looks like the best bet. It has capability to export an IDL file that is directly readable by circuitworks and brings in component information as well. I made up a simple test board in designspark to see if this is the automated solution i'm looking for.

 

Assuming that works, I'll have to see if I can convert the eagle .brd files of the DIN/DOUT modules to designspark - there's a note on the relevant pages:

 

There are no special eagle schematics available, since components have been netlisted in the .brd file directly!

 

Not sure what this means exactly, but maybe worst case scenario i would just need to re-identify/map the components in designspark?

 

For the CORE_LPC17, there's actually a .step file included with the gerber files, which is good because there isn't a .brd file. That one imports into solid works reasonably well, but the components are missing leads and other things. Probably good enough for my purposes, but I'd still be interested in rolling my own. That board actually needs an update to match the Rev C version of the LPC1769, so if/when someone gets around to that (long term these will be superseded by the stm32f4 I know) hopefully they can provide a .brd file as well.

 

Anyways, that's what i've been up to... thanks for the feedback already provided and any more to come!

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I have rebuilt all boards that are related to the NG project in eagle. Some with different Dimensions and parts but i can provide those if you need them... Rather of sharing one to one i wold like to get a solution like Github or something similar where we can upload forks and different designs / change parts and add such specialties like 3d model linking to parts. Im no IT guru and actually don't even know what Github does but to me it seams like a possibility to share those layouts... 

Maybe it wold be good to open a thread do discuss that...

I don't know how Thorsten likes that idea... Most of the Schematics are his work, so even if its opensource we somehow shold ask him for permission i think... Maybe he even has a different idea how to share that data...

best regards

novski

 

update:

After talking to a Friend he checked the SVN of Thorsten and mentioned to work with that. I din't know that its possible to use svn for non-code based work...

Edited by novski
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I have rebuilt all boards that are related to the NG project in eagle. Some with different Dimensions and parts but i can provide those if you need them... Rather of sharing one to one i wold like to get a solution like Github or something similar where we can upload forks and different designs / change parts and add such specialties like 3d model linking to parts. Im no IT guru and actually don't even know what Github does but to me it seams like a possibility to share those layouts... 

Maybe it wold be good to open a thread do discuss that...

I don't know how Thorsten likes that idea... Most of the Schematics are his work, so even if its opensource we somehow shold ask him for permission i think... Maybe he even has a different idea how to share that data...

best regards

novski

 

update:

After talking to a Friend he checked the SVN of Thorsten and mentioned to work with that. I din't know that its possible to use svn for non-code based work...

 

Agreed, I'd also like TK's approval. I forgot he has his own SVN repository - as far as I know CVS/SVN/GIT can handle any kinds of files, although it's really made for text/ascii sorts of files. If he's ok with hosting models there I think that would be a good solution. I also like your idea of community forks of board designs (I had to substitute some components due to lack of availability in Asia), but as with the question about models I defer to TK. **Paging TK**

 

Yesterday I spent a few hours working on this, and I think i better understand the ECAD to MCAD process now. If the MB community is predominantly working in eagle I think I have another option to try that would reduce the need to bring boards into designspark as an intermediary step (although i'm starting to prefer designspark over eagle at the moment, but i'm an ME so I'm no authority on this subject). Also while it's cool being able to have fully detailed solid models made based on component dimensions, it's largely unnecessary for design purposes and would slow down rendering/work with large assemblies. It make sense to make simplified/detailed MBHP parts/assemblies for use in different situations. Like I said, I'm doing this more as a learning experience (and I need another hobby besides drinking) so I'm interested to see how detailed/precise I can get.

 

Anyways, here's a screen cap of my work in progress: post-20639-0-48963900-1399854638_thumb.p

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Yes, this should be possible - I have not tried this, though. I was mainly interested in generating a nice model, but maybe if one exported this and subsequently imported into a more complete renderer, it would be possible to create a nicer lighting?

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  • 4 months later...

Sooo... here's the deal. Eagle v7.1 has a BRILLIANT ulp to export to IDF. So far it seems to be very smart, just need to move the board outline to layer 20 and it will output an IDF file readable by Solidworks.

 

From there, i used the circuit works app to associate solid models with the electrical components. The models included with SW are pretty nice, except they are drawn with the origin of the part at pin 1, while the IDF file exported by eagle sets the component origin at the center of the component. I had to set an auxiliary coordinate system at the component center, but after that it worked nicely!

 

See attached for an example of the DIN board...

 

Of course, after I finished I noticed that the board layout from SmashTV is different than board file on the ucapps site... 

post-20639-0-35482900-1411824402_thumb.j

post-20639-0-62147000-1411824404_thumb.j

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very nice renderings!

 

Thanks, and these are not just renderings - these are parametric models that can be used with CAD software!

 

So potentially stupid question here: are the DIN/DOUT/DIO_MATRIX boards that SmashTV sells based of his own layout/design? Or are the .brd files available somewhere?

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I'm still working on these, a friend was able to export the CORE_LPC17 project file (made in altium unfortunately) into an EMN/EMP file that I can import through solidworks. It's a little rough around the edges, but with some cleanup and hacking I've been able to put together something quite usable for my case/project design purposes.

 

post-20639-0-27402700-1418192715_thumb.j

 

All that's really missing are to confirm the dimensions on the pots and the USB/ETH connectors. I've found that this gets easier once I have a library of models for the components made up. I was able to take TK's new Line driver and make up finished assemblies rather quickly:

 

post-20639-0-48208800-1418192966_thumb.jpost-20639-0-40805300-1418192968_thumb.j

 

Not sure how many folks are interested in these models, but I guess I need to get registered on the wiki and start packaging these up for download.

 

Novski - I was clearing my inbox and found a digest mail sent before the server crash. I like your suggestion on how to make up DIN/DOUT models, thanks for the idea!

 

Edit: Note to self, must save these as better quality jpg files...

Edited by jab
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