Thoughts on Rigid Flex PCB Support in Fusion

[erik.buerV95QJ]

I am a big fan of using rigid flex boards. They clean up cabling, and make assembly more intuitive.

One of Fusions major draw-backs are the lack of proper flex support.

The great thing is that fusion has the opportunity to implement perhaps the most powerful flex board planning tool.

If you modify the sheet metal tool in fusion, one can create the board by growing it to fit in 3D, as oppose of making paper models and recreating a 2d model afterwards.

-Erik

[rhdfmail]

I have a project where rigid-flex might be needed because a combination of tight space and simple assembly (no connectors to plug in or cables to handsolder)

The power of fusion is the ability to have the "enclosure" and the electronics tight coupled in the same project. So If the mechanical designer have to move/add/edit something the flex-part can be quickly edited to fit

[benjamin.jordan]

Hi @erik.buerV95QJ @rhdfmail 

Rigid-Flex would be nice to have - especially in the ECAD-MCAD co-design environment where the mechanical fit could drive the board sections and part layout. It's something that will be added to the roadmap at the right time.

In the nearer term we're also closing gaps on some critical things. The recent release for example included orth-drag in schematic, and ODB++ manufacturing outputs.

I'd like to learn more about your experience using FLEX and designing for it. Feel free to email me directly if you'd like to discuss over a zoom call: benjamin.jordan@autodesk.com

Kind regards,

Ben.

[timonsku]

Hi @benjamin.jordan , its been quite a long while since this topic was brought up. Has Rigid Flex been added to the road map since? It is one of the main things that still force me to work with other EDA tools like Altium or OrCAD now and then as designing rigid flex assemblies really requires a tight integration with the MCAD side.

While you can design them flat, without a way to work back and forth between the 3D assembly and the electronics design it is an extremely difficult and error prone work flow that is just not really viable as of now in Fusion.
Fusion has in theory such a perfect setup for this that would give a superior workflow to Altium and OrCAD.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @timonsku,

I hope you're doing well. Benjamin Jordan left Autodesk 2 years ago so I don't think he'll be responding.

With that said it is something we want to implement, I don't have a timeline for this yet but I'll add your comments to the existing ticket. 

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[andy_robertsTPP84]

Hi @timonsku 

As Jorge mentioned, we are aware of the need for the ability to handle rigid flex. It's definitely something that we are looking to release, but I do not have a timeframe for you.

We appreciate your feedback, and please feel free to PM me directly to provide more details on your workflow and thoughts.

Regards