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Forum GenCAD reverses polarity of capacitors!
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  • gencad
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GenCAD reverses polarity of capacitors!

Former Member
Former Member over 14 years ago

I have a problem with all three versions of gencad.ulp (including 1.23 and 1.30) where my electrolytic capacitors are reversed in the CAD file compared to the .plc  The assembly house looked at the silk screen (.plc) the first time and everything was fine.  But when I re-ordered boards assembled, they looked at the CAD files and my tantalum caps nearly caught on fire!

 

I tried to decipher the ULP script and could not find any clues as to how the polarity is determined.

 

I am willing to alter my library of packages and devices to make sure this works, but I see that I am using a package that came from one of the "standard" libraries, so I am unclear as to why there is a problem.

 

I also worry that capacitors are not the only parts with incorrect orientation.

 

Note that none of my caps are oriented other than 0, 90, 180 or 270, so this should not be related to the known problems with 45 degree or other rotations.

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  • Richard_H
    0 Richard_H over 14 years ago

    Hi Brian,

     

    this sounds really strange.... Could you please send me the board file by private email. So I could check this and try to get out what the problem is. Please send to support@cadsoft.de

     

    Regards,

    Richard 

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago in reply to Richard_H

    Thanks for the response, Richard. I have sent Eagle files to support@cadsoft.de so that we can hopefully find a solution to this.

    I will respond here with updates as developments proceed.

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  • Richard_H
    0 Richard_H over 14 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Hi Brian,

     

    the email did not arrive yet...... could you please check again?

     

    Thanks,

    Richard

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago in reply to Richard_H

    I seem to recall hearing the "email sent" sound a long time after sending that email, so there may have been some kind of delay. It's also possible that the email was redirected because I appended [tss92t-1lt9-tqp] to the Subject.

     

    I just sent another copy and heard it go out right away. Thanks for being so prompt to reply.

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago

    It could be possible that this problem is due to the Windows software that is reading and displaying the CAD files, and not gencad.ulp itself.  I will check with my assembly shop to see what version of software they're using (it's something that they purchased a license for, so I do not have my own copy).

     

    If anyone knows of a free CAD viewer for Mac OS X or Windows XP, please let me know.  It would be nice if I could verify CAD files before sending them out for a job.  The Eagle license has been more than worth the money, but I can't quite justify spending additional money on a CAD viewer.

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  • Richard_H
    0 Richard_H over 14 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Hi Brian,.

     

    as far as I know, there is no viewer for free for the GenCAD files.....

     

    Richard

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  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Aegis CircuitCAM is the software that apparently reveals this error. Now, the challenge is to determine whether CircuitCAM is displaying the CAM files incorrectly, or if gencad.ulp is creating them incorrectly.

     

    Note that my circuit started out with a standard Device and Package from A/3216-18R@rcl.lbr, but when I switched to my own Device and Package I noted that the default rotation was opposite.  In order to preserve my existing layout, I had to rotate the existing pieces by 180 degrees.  I still have the positive side of the Symbol attached to the positive side of the Package, so that one-time rotation should not be visible to gencad.ulp in any way.  The whole thing makes me suspicious, though.

     

    If there are no free CAD viewers, then perhaps someone can suggest a really cheap one!

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