ULP mountsmd and mount don't work any more??

[anthonyEX9NB]

What has happened to 2D PCB file? The pick and place file generating ULPs mount and mountsmd don't work any more. Only the top component file, mnt, is created and the bottom component file, mnb, is empty. Yes, I have components that are supposed to be on the bottom.

What happened? How do I create the pick and place files?

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @anthonyEX9NB ,

I hope you're doing well. How are you running these ULPs? Are you running them straight from the CAM processor or running a previous version of the ULP? If you run it through the CAM processor it still works. Just tried it.

Let me know if you continue to run into problems.

Best Regards,

[anthonyEX9NB]

I was running the ULP's by clicking ULP in the Automate section of the Utilities tab and searching mount and mountsmd. Run that way, the bottom placement file was always blank. I also tried the mount-smd-tht ULP and it seemed to still work. And then I tried creating PnP files from the CAM processor and yes, that seemed to work.

How does the CAM processor create BOM files and PnP files? Does it use ULPs or is the process hard coded?

Is the command line interface and ULPs and scripts going to get continuous support? Are people writing new ULPs?

The problem is that I had optimized my workflow and then there were a lot of changes to Fusion 360 and now I have to figure out a new workflow by experimenting and asking the Autodesk Assistant for how to do things, which takes time to make sure the information I want is being generated. I was skeptical for the usefulness of the Autodesk Assistant, but it has been really helpful sorting things out since the Fusion 360 documents are poor.

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @anthonyEX9NB ,

I hope you're doing well. Under the hood the CAM processor uses a ULP while we take the time to implement it as native functionality similar to what we have done with the BOM.

The CLI interface will continue to get support and will become even more important in the age of AI since it gives those tools a means to query and modify the design. We are working on a Python interface to replace ULPs. The ULP system will not go away but development moving forward will be encouraged through the more powerful Python API.

Happy to hear the Assistant has been useful for you. 

Feel free to reach out if there's anything I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[pal.szabo]

Hi @anthonyEX9NB ,

Just wanted to let you know that there is an add-in for Fusion that can generate pick-and-place output in multiple file formats, supports some fabhouse specific formatting out of the box and has a simple Python interface to extend it with other fabhouse formats, or you can even use your own existing scripts without writing a single line of code. It is called Electronics Extended Toolbox and it is free, open source and available on both Windows and Mac.

Best regards,

Paul