Change derived board outline from enclosure

[xpuipc]

Hi,

I have a question concerning workflow between the construction environment and the electronics environment and back...

What i did:

1. Created enclosure in Fusion construction environment

2. Created a sketch/profile from the inner outline of my enclosure with project

3. Did an offset of the projected outline

4. Finished the sketch and then select the profile and make/derive it as new pcb board

5. In electronics environment i link this pcb board to my board => i get an outline there in the shape of my profile from my enclosure

6. Imported back the board into my enclosure

Now my question:

What happens when i change (e.g size or shape) the outline generated under step 2 and 3,

will the outline of the pcb board in fusion electronics environment also change, and at the end also my back imported board (step6)..... is there still a link between them?

My experience is that it not changing, but i am not sure what the intention is here....

Thank you for your help..

Torsten

[panpan_fan]

Hi @xpuipc 

I hope you are doing well.

Do you want to make the board shape change with the enclosure?

Then I think the attached video will help you to make it happen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ny4kWdhTbg

Please have a look and try it. If you still have any question, please let us knows, thanks!

Best Regards

Panpan Pan

[xpuipc]

Hi @panpan_fan,

thank you for your quick answer....i know this video....but in my case is exactly the other way round. I have an enclosure and i have to derive an outline of it for my board...like it is discribed in this viedeo here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MpKUBcz1Ds&t=1114s

It works like described, but it seems that there is no link between the "derived/exported" outline and the resulting pcb outline when i change the outline in the construction context...or did i miss something..?

Thank you

Torsten

[kb9ydn]

---

@xpuipc wrote:

Hi @panpan_fan,

thank you for your quick answer....i know this video....but in my case is exactly the other way round. I have an enclosure and i have to derive an outline of it for my board...like it is discribed in this viedeo here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MpKUBcz1Ds&t=1114s

It works like described, but it seems that there is no link between the "derived/exported" outline and the resulting pcb outline when i change the outline in the construction context...or did i miss something..?

Thank you

Torsten

---

After you make a change to the enclosure and save the changes, you should see an indicator in the timeline for the 3DPCB like shown below:

If you right click on the indicator it will give you the option to get the latest version of the derived sketch.  Now you can do the "push to 2D PCB"/"View 3D PCB" thing to update the boards for the new outline.

C|

[panpan_fan]

Hi @xpuipc  

Thanks for your comment.

You may try the Derive - Add to Existing Design function to make 3D PCB changed with the enclosure.

You can just try the follow steps:

1. Prepare 2D PCB file, 3D PCB file (any shape is OK) and the enclosure file

2. In Enclosure file -> Derive -> Choose the Sketch of the enclosure -> Choose Add to Existent Design -> Then Choose the 3D PCB you create before

3. In 3D PCB -> You will see the Derive icon in the timeline -> Show the Sketch -> Then you can Right Click on the Extrude icon and choose Edit Board in the  timeline (Deselect the old outline and choose the new  Derived enclosure sketch to be the profile)

4. Then If you back to Enclosure Design and change the shape of the Enclosure, back to 3D PCB. You will see the warning icon in the timeline to remind you to Get Latest (Just as @kb9ydn  mentioned in the reply). If you choose Get Latest, then the 3D PCB shape will changed by the enclosure

You can have a try to see if it will solve your problem. If you still have any issue, please let us know, thanks!

Best Regards

Panpan Fan

[xpuipc]

@panpan_fan, @kb9ydn, thank you for your help...appreciate this very much..

i think it is very close to the solution...to use the "derive from sketch command" to link it to a PCB board...

But i did it with this command (it is "3D-Leiterplatte erstellen" => "Create 3D PCB"):

=> it is a bit misleading here because it seems that this command is not doing a derive, it is "only" doing a copy of the sketch...

Will it not be usefull that this command will do a derive (not a copy) to speed up the workflow ?

Again thank you

Torsten

[yqliu · Accepted solution]

Hello Torsten, the command "Create 3D PCB" doesn't do derive for a couple of reasons:

1. "derive" creates a tight link between the source document and the 3D PCB document and not everyone wants to have this link.
2. "derive" means the PCB should be updated whenever the source sketch (usually from the the mechanical  design) is changed. That makes it impossible to update in the other direction: to update mechanical when PCB changes。
3. This command also supports the EAGLE<>Fusion collaboration.
4. Most importantly, we are developing advanced features to make this command much more useful. You will find some powerful tools to work with 3D PCB with mechanical parts. Stay tuned. 

Finally, thank you for your feedback. We will add a new command to create 3D PCB with derive automatically!

Richard

[fabio55JATR7]

Doesn't the "Derive PCB from Sketch" do that? I tried to use this option but changes in the sketch do not reflect in changes to the PCB.
Also will there be a two way derive option? Example: designing a PCB for a keyboard, I derive the board size and screw holes position from the mechanical side (the casing or enclosure) and by changing where buttons or other components are placed the enclosure will change to provide them the needed openings.
Could such thing be possible?

[yqliu]

First, you always need to push 3d pcb to 2d PCB to update the changes of the sketch outline. 

There is no direct two-way derive option. One possible workflow you can try is:
1. First create a document in which a sketch defines the board outline;

2. Derive PCB from this sketch and create a new 3D PCB

3. Push the 3D PCD to 2D to generate the board outline in 2D PCB environment. Then add the components.

4. Create a new mechanical design for enclosure

5. Insert the 3D PCB into the enclosure document.