Change to new PCB shape without redoing all part placement and routing.

[clark.emerick]

Initial round rev 1 PCB was created in Fusion 360 and populated and routed.

Then 3d model was pushed to mechanical to verify fit and alignment. 

Then proto boards and parts were ordered and successfully assembled and tested.

I am trying to avoid a problem I had already where any PCB mechanical changes cause all the part placements and routing to be lost and you have to re-do it all again.

The rev 2 design uses a smaller round PCB (4 inch diameter ) with a small cutout to accommodate a related mechanical change. The previous round PCB had a 4.5 inch diameter and only a small percent of the components would be impacted by the small PCB and added cutout. But I have not found a way to update the PCB shape of a previously routed PCB without basically starting over since the components are not placed on the board and all routing is lost.

I will try some small sample projects while I wait to see if anyone has any suggestions or information.

So basically it is having a mechanical change causing what should be a minor PCB shape change.

Unfortunately the ripple effect seems to be a do over of parts placement and routing.  

Appreciate any help.

[clark.emerick]

After making a small test project with 3 resistors on a round board I was able to make this work.

Then I tried it on the real project and the PCB shape did not update after several attempts.

But finally the new shape was available and the parts remained in their previous placement as did the routing.

So only some minor changes were required. The PCB orientation was way off but that was easier to fix.

I wish I could share what eventually made it work but after 5-6 failed attempts I am not sure at this point.

I will just enjoy the small victory for now and move on.

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA · Accepted solution]

Hi @clark.emerick ，

Thank you very much for asking and thank you very much for your feedback.

Not sure whether you have been aware of that we support Edit In Place for 3D PCB in Mechanical design workspace directly, where we could edit the board shape and select the new sketch as the new board shape and also able to push the changes to 2d PCB under Edit in Place environment.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/march-2021-product-update-whats-new/

Regards,

Helen

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Additionally, here are the steps about Edit In Place for your reference.

1. Insert the 3D PCB in the Mechanical design you want, where you have another sketch want to the be board's outline later.

2. Right click or double click the inserted 3D PCB in the bowser > select Edit In Place (EIP)

3. Select Associate in the drop down of the EIP on top

4. In the timeline, right click the board icon > Click Edit Board

5. Deselect the current profile of the board

6. Select the new sketch as you want, and click OK button in the Edit Board dialog, now the 3D PCB will use the new sketch as the outline.

7. If the 2D PCB board is opened, you could push to 2D PCB under Edit In Place environment, then you will see the new board outline is updated in 2D PCB too.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Helen

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

More information about 3D PCB related could be found in this post below:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-electronics/how-to-work-with-3d-pcb/td-p/9278497