Openscad parametric fixture - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2016, 06:22:53 pm
content: Just designed this and thought it was pretty cool so figured I'd share. Useful for anyone who spins their own PCBs. There's a writeup on my website:http://tinylabs.io/openfixtureEnjoy! Any feedback would be appreciated!-Elliot

author: julianhigginson
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 11:56:10 am
content: cool!looking forward to trying this one out.It's interesting the way you've had to do the pin connections, but I really love that it's a solution that only needs laser cutting.

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 04:40:50 pm
content: Thanks Julian,Since I've posted this I've added a python script that takes a .kicad_pcb file and does all the dirty work of finding the test pad centers, generating the dxf outline, etc. It's all up in github:https://github.com/ebuller/openfixture. Let me know if you have any ideas for improvements.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 04:44:04 pm
content: Thingiverse supports parametric openscad models. If you will upload it there, people can easily customize without having to install openscad.http://customizer.makerbot.com/docs

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 05:57:29 pm
content: The problem is extracting all the xy coordinates, exporting the pcb outline, etc. The python script uses the kicad api to do all this for you. At some point I'll add a web interface to my site to allow uploading a .kicad_pcb and then providing a link for a generated laser cuttable dxf but it's not high on my list of priorities. Until then the options are:1. Install kicad and openscad. Use the python script to generate dxf.2. Follow the directions athttp://tinylabs.io/openfixture-kicad-export/.Plug these values into openscad to generate the dxf.

author: julianhigginson
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 11:29:25 pm
content: Quote from: elliotb on October 30, 2016, 04:40:50 pmI use altium, which has a good method of getting testpoint centres out already - but will need to convert that to the format your parametric model needs... not sure about getting the outline though. I might have to try my hand at altium scripting again

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2016, 11:46:28 pm
content: Cool, let me know how it works out! If you can get the outline as a dxf the rest should be pretty straight forward.

author: nisma
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2016, 06:37:15 pm
content: It works on eagle, dxf extracted using gerbview.

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2016, 07:16:12 pm
content: Sweet, thanks for the data point nisma. Did you manually extract the test point centers (relative to the top left of board) in eagle?

author: nisma
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2016, 10:17:24 am
content: I used ulp for that, hacked make-pogo-pin... . want to see real result first beforeproceeding to modify the ulp.

author: elliotb
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2016, 03:35:07 pm
content: Very nice, if you end up putting in the time and going that route let me know and I'll add it to the github repo/website. It'd be really cool to have a solution that supported Kicad, Eagle and Altium. That would cover pretty much everyone I know in the field.

author: technotronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2017, 12:45:41 pm
content: Interesting.This is easy that it only needs laser cutting. Loved it.

author: richardlawson1489
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2017, 02:39:41 pm
content: Great. Really helpful.