Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current

Products

CADSTAR Express, a free Web download of the CADSTAR 7.0 design solution, includes an advanced Place and Route Editor for faster, more accurate routing. The fully functional Web version has a limit of 50 library components and 300 pins.

Aimed at design engineers, board designers, students and hobbyists, comes with an interactive manual to guide users through the design process and tool suite.

Front-to-back design suite for the Windows platform offers constraints-driven schematic capture, placement, routing, library creation and management, signal integrity, EMC analysis and production of manufacturing data. Design flow managed within a single GUI. Menus can be customized for fast access to frequently used tools, includes board dimensioning tools and a hierarchical library for symbols, components and parts.

Said to offer fast, accurate automatic routing of even densely packed boards. Features 45-degree routing, automatic copper re-pour and constraints-based component footprints. Offers placement accuracy up to 1/1000th of a degree, and constraints-based track length control maintains signal integrity and minimizes EMC problems in high-speed designs.

Available for download at cadstarworld.com/express.

Zuken, zuken.com

GerbTool version 14.0 offers fully revised support of NC drilling and milling, and enhanced netlisting support that streamlines the comparison process of Gerber-to-D356. Includes DfM support for embedded passive technology. The DfM analysis features help designers and fabricators deploy either additive or subtractive passive resistor materials within their printed circuit-based products

Allows users to work with multiple tool tables and control every aspect of their NC data, down to feed, speed, plunge and extract rates of the machine spindle. Can accommodate complex assembly sub-panels or manufacturing production panels. 25 new DfM analysis queries provide a general analysis of any PCB; results can then be used for job quoting, pre-sales analysis or pre-production reviews.

Increased collaboration with free Internet Explorer-based GerbTool database reader allows users to share datasets with other team members, inside or outside of the company.

Release highlights include:

Embedded Passive Support, Alignment Checking

Termination Bar Overlap Checking, Extension Checking, Width Checking

Advanced Tool Table Support

Multiple Tool Tables

NC Feeds and Speeds

NC Plunge and Extract Rates

NC Compensation Index Tables

NC Tool Linking

Maximum Hits

Tool Reordering for Export

User-Defined Break Tabs

Enhanced Interactive Milling

Drilled Text

Operator Messages

Operator Stop Command

MCM/LTCC Layer Stack-Up

Enhanced Information Queries

Updated Internal Net Names

Importing Databases, Internal versus External Netlist

Import Netlist Only (ODB++, PADS ASCII)

Explode Nets, Preserve Nets

Net Compare, Check Pad Sizes

GT-Reader Internet Browser Plug-In

WISE Software Solutions Inc., wssi.com

Accutronic, a flat-belt-driven, powered live-roller accumulation conveyor with 24-volt electric actuation is said to offer quiet, positive transportation and true zero-pressure accumulation of cases, cartons and totes.

Reduces noise and removes lubrication requirements associated with chain-and-pad-driven live roller conveyor. 24-volt electric stepper motor lift mechanism eliminates the need for the compressed air, increasing installation flexibility and producing energy savings.

Features an automatic sleep mode, which disengages the drive if no product has rolled by in eight seconds, and detectors built into the photo-eye sensors that shut the system down five seconds after sensing a product jam. Photo-eye sensors, factory installed and aligned, and control modules are delivered ready to run.

Designed for medium-duty, high-speed accumulation lines. Offers speeds up to 400 ft./min. on transportation and up to 240 ft./min. on accumulation.

Weight capacity is 35 lb./ft. for live loads, 100 lb. per package. Provides release rates of up to 95% and acceptance rates up to 100%.

Available in three-, six-, nine- and 12-foot lengths with a standard zone length of three feet. Available widths between frames are 16", 22", 28", 34" and 40".

FKI Logistex North America, fkilogistex.com

Smart Sonic ultrasonic stencil cleaning process cleans at very low power density (watts/liter) as early research by GEC Marconi and the EMPF Laboratory indicated that lower power density equals higher safety.

Recent studies indicate that ultrasonic power densities of 10 watts per liter or less are desirable for the safe cleaning of populated PCBs. These stencil cleaners have always been rated at 10 watts per liter and still clean any type of solder paste from fine-pitch stencils.

Cleans all types of solder paste at low power densities due to the cleaning efficiency of their proprietary 440-R SMT Detergent and the mechanical efficiency of the ultrasonic transducers.

Smart Sonic, smartsonic.com

29 x 29" VectorGuard stencils allow customers to reduce changeover time and ease stencil handling and storage challenges in applications requiring a large image area.

The large format foils are available in popular thicknesses, including 0.005" (0.127mm) and 0.006"(0.152mm).

Customers can also use the 29 x 29" frameless system in machines that do not have an adjustable chase, including non-DEK machines, or where they prefer not to use side bar extensions. The system then becomes a straight swap for existing framed foils.

Customers invest only in the frame, which comes complete with a footpedal to control the air supply during mounting, and the foils themselves.

Extruded aluminium edges and plastic corners add rigidity and streamline frame mounting and tensioning, making larger foils feasible.

DEK, dek.com

FEINFOCUS Graphical User Interface (FGUI) software version 2.2 offers real-time background subtraction. Background subtraction reduces shading in x-ray imagery, a common problem in x-ray inspection that limits image contrast.

Shading appears as a slight fading of intensity from the image center toward the periphery, the degree of which depends largely on the sample or structure being x-rayed. The FGUI enables users to activate an automatic background subtraction process, loading a previously produced background image from one of the many buffers available. The gray values of the background image are automatically subtracted from those of the active x-ray image in real-time -optimizing image contrast and facilitating interpretation of the inspection results.

The inspection software has several new capabilities, including an AVI recorder, 16-bit image processing, seamless integration of Direct Digital Detectors (DDD) and image saving in a variety of formats (e.g. TIF, BMP and JPG). New image-processing operators have also been added, such as an electronic film operator.

FEINFOCUS, feinfocus.com