Edit a circuit board in a design assembly

This topic walks you through the following process:

• Fit a 3D circuit board into a mechanical enclosure
• Edit component alignment and board geometry
• Push changes back to the 2D circuit board
• Correct any new electronic design errors on the 2D board
• Push changes to the 3D board in the enclosure

Move the 3D circuit board into the enclosure

1. Create the enclosure and sketch in the circuit board geometry by selecting an existing plane or offsetting a plane of the enclosure. The example below was created by selecting the plane on top of the four stand-off posts. Record the geometry of the circuit board design for use in the next step.

   

2. Create a 2D circuit board with the geometry required for the enclosure.

   

3. With the 2D circuit board open, click DESIGN > Push to 3D PCB. The 3D PCB appears in a new design document.

   

4. With the enclosure document open, right-click the 3D PCB document in the Data Panel and select Insert into Current Design.

   

   The board comes into the drawing on the origin plane.

5. Use Move or Joints commands to position the board on top of the stand-off posts so you can examine the alignment of components with openings in the enclosure.

Edit the 3D board in place

1. Activate Edit In Place for the 3D board by clicking the pencil icon beside the board drawing name in the browser.

   

2. On the Edit In Place menu at the top of the drawing window, select Associative.

   

   This setting is required to support automated updates between 3D and 2D circuit boards when using Edit In Place.

3. From the 3D PCB panel, you can use the Flip command to move components to the other side of the board and the Move command to better align components with openings in the enclosure.

4. Exit the Edit In Place mode by clicking the green check mark on the Edit In Place menu at the top of the drawing window. Save the design workspace for the board and enclosure.

   

5. Click the 3D PCB drawing tab, then reopen it from the Data Panel to get the Edit In Place updates from the design workspace for the board and enclosure.

Synchronize 2D and 3D designs

1. On the 3D PCB panel, click Push to 2D PCB to update the 2D board with changes from the 3D board. On the 2D board design, you can see the new position of any components that you moved on the 3D board in the enclosure.

   

   In the example above, three design errors are marked by hatched regions. The top one indicates a trace that runs too close to a hole in the board, and the two on the right side indicate traces and components too close to the edge of the board. These issues can be addressed by re-routing traces and moving components in the 2D design.

2. When 2D design changes are finished, push them back to the 3D board by clicking DESIGN > Push to 3D PCB, then save the 3D board to push changes to the design workspace.

3. Open the design workspace that shows the 3D board in the enclosure.

   

   Yellow warning signs in the design indicate out-of-date references. Resolve these by clicking one of the yellow signs.