Target Condition: Are Autorouters Friend or Foe?
Fresh PCB Concepts: Assembly Challenges with Micro Components and Standard Solder Mask Practices
Elementary Mr. Watson: Retro Routers vs. Modern Boards—The Silent Struggle on Your Screen
The Readers Speak: Tips on Accelerating your Design Cycle
October 28, 2015 | Andy Shaughnessy, PCBDesign007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
This month, in addition to publishing feature articles by well-known experts in the field, we decided to collect feedback from the readers—PCB designers and engineers working in the trenches each day. We asked our readers to provide their favorite tips, tricks, and techniques for speeding up the PCB design cycle. Here are 10 tips for cutting your design time, courtesy of designers just like you.
Matija Milostnik
PCB group leader, Slovenia
“Bang on the electrical engineers to squeeze out of them all constraint upfront before starting a design, so that you can put them into rules in the design tool, and then hold them accountable for changes. The rest is easy, in comparison.”
Santiago Cervantes
CID+, San Diego
“Know the system the PCB integrates into.”
Karl Bates
President of ConnectPCB, Chicago
“Use both hands (i.e., one hand on the mouse, other using shortcut keys or function keys). Type without looking at your hands (they should know where the keys are).”
Jens Hansen
PCB designer, Aalborg, Denmark
“Learn the limitations of the PCB fabrication process and set up your PCB CAD system accordingly.”
Felipe Lopez Rendon
Packaging design engineer with Intel, Guadalajara, Mexico
“Keep the DRC on most of the time.”
To read this entire article, which appeared in the October 2015 issue of The PCB Design Magazine, click here.
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