How do I make a cut line score to a circuit board in Circuit Studio?

Question

Hello, I am new to Circuit Studio. I have a few technical questions about the program that I can't seem to find answers for on line. How do I make a cut line score to a circuit board in Circuit Studio? Some of my circuit board layouts call for the circuit board to be separated into 2 or 3 sections. Do to this I need to add a score line to the board. Can someone please tell me how I can go about doing that? Also, what layer is the actual circuit board located?

alienjack · Answer

Hi Thomas. Thank you so much. You have really helped me. I will follow your suggestions. Learning anything at the beginning can be tough, but you have helped to make it a mush less frustrating experience. Thank you again.

tarribred61 · Answer

There are videos also on YouTube... Just go to youtube and search for CircuitStudio. basic videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TvJ0mTttUg polygon pours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ijcdZX1f4 board outline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8djEkmHIEU

tarribred61 · Answer

Hi, I don't ever panelize my own boards so I don't put rails. Why you ask? Because I don't know what panel size the fabricator will want to use as it depends on what they stock. Once you have your board shape you should contact a fabricator and let them panelize the PCBs as they want to maximize quantity per panel. You can make a fabrication note section of the drill drawing to specify how you want boards to be scored or as V-score, mouse bytes with routed edges (as for rounded boards). Let the fabricator put on rails and also panel fiducials. When you order you can specify if you want loose boards or full panels depending on if you are hand building or putting through automated assembly. If you are making a small board that can use a standard 2 or 4 layer stackup, limited number of different and standard drill holes, etc. you might even use a quick turn fabricator that will image your boards on panels with other peoples and then they ship you what you ordered. Also, CS isn't really set up for you to do your own panelization. If you have a fabricator in mind you can ask them ahead of time what is their preferred panel size and then optimize your board size to fit as many as possible on a single panel. This way you might be able to get 6 instead of 4 if you make the board slightly smaller. When you buy circuit boards, often the cost is driven by how many you can fit on a panel in addition to how many holes, how thick the copper is, how many layers, etc. You are basically paying for the panels so the more boards you can fit on one the better off you are. If you are prototyping it may matter less.

tarribred61 · Answer

Also and while I think of it, if you have parts like connectors, edge LEDs or switches that go to the edge of the PCB or even go beyond the edge, and there is a PCB score line, make sure you have room between the PCBs so the assembler can install the parts and not interfere with the adjacent PCB instantiation or with their board separation tooling. I have seen connectors ripped off boards when the boards are depanelized after assembly. You should tell the fabricator so they will panelize appropriately. Otherwise there needs to be sufficient clearance from the board edge to solder pads to prevent damage when the boards are depanelized. Maybe search for PCB fabrication documentation information. Here is a link from Altium that is a PowerPoint with some of the basics. https://www.altium.com/live-conference/theme/PDFs/SDay%201/Creating%20Documentation%20for%20Successful%20PCB%20Manufactu…

tarribred61 · Answer

Hi, I believe you would choose a mechanical layer you want to use for PCB outline then place lines, arcs, etc to define the PCB shape. In my PCBs the outline is mechanical layer 1. When making your PCB footprints, I recommend keeping consistent with the default layer assignments. The outline primitives should be thin lines, maybe only 1 or 2 mils thick so it is unambiguous where the board shape is. If you make it thicker, the rule is it would be the center of the thickness and not the outer or inner edge of the thick line, so it is better to keep the outline thin. If you want to place a keepout to keep features away from the board edge then do it with a thick line on the keepout layer, it would typically mirror the PCB outline. Here is a screen shot of a section of the PCB outline. Layer 1 has been renamed to be Outline but it is still mechanical layer 1. As for score line marks, you would need to describe what you want to the fabricator. This can be done on the drawings using a free mechanical layer (not the outline layer). Draw the STRAIGHT lines on the outline layer and then put text note on the fabrication layer or other free mechanical layer that says you want a score line. Of course, if the PCB edge has a curve then you would not likely use a scored snap line. You should be able to learn more about PCB fabrication drawings by searching on that topic. For example here is a link I quickly found.... How to Read a PCB Fabrication Drawing Also, I'd recommend spending the time to look over the information, blogs, videos and such on the element14 website. Especially the videos and sort them by date created, oldest first so you can get to some of the ones that describe more basic features. Start with "1 - The CircuitStudio Environment" and then scan through the others to strengthen the basics. good luck

How do I make a cut line score to a circuit board in Circuit Studio?

Top Replies