Announcement : SmtAssistant free tool for prototype assembly

[alciom]

Dear all,

The manual assembly of a SMT PCB could be a long, boring and erroneous operation, as we need to go back and forth between the PCB design documentation and the part bins, locating where each component must be fitted. In order to dramatically simplify this operation we have developped for our own needs a simple but we think effective Windows-based software, named SmtAssistant. Basically it reads a Pick&Place file and a bitmap of your PCB, helps you to prepare your parts and then SHOWS YOU HOW EACH SUCCESSIVE PART MUST BE PLACED

Two good news :
1/ As we are Proteus users for years this tool can directly read the Pick&Place files generated by Ares
2/ As PC software development is not our business (Alciom is a consulting company in mixed signal and RF designs) we decided to provide it FREE OF CHARGE for anyone interested.

You can download the software and its documentation from this page (the web page is currently in french, but the software manual is in english, I'm sure you will find its download link on that page) :

http://alciom.com/fr/telechargements/re ... uites.html

Let us know if you like it or if you have any improvement idea (other than merging it with Ares, I let that task to Labcenter's team ;+) )
Yours,
Robert Lacoste
www.alciom.com

[chimimic]

Simply thanks.

[Shaun]

Robert,

Just want to say many thanks for sharing this with the community. It appears to be a very useful tool and I can see I will use this with my student placements.

For most layouts we use Altium so need to configure the Pick n Place parameters but it works very well with Ares files.

Thanks

Shaun

[dunkers]

This is a blinding utility, Robert. Thanks very much for making it available

[Donald]

I have just had a quick look at this. It is obviously very useful. One of those things that is so simple and obvious after you have seen it.

Just so I do not go off and reinvent the wheel - is there an Android version available - if not, I may get one written. Android tablets are so convenient on the workshop floor.

[alciom]

Thanks guys for your support !
To Donald : no, no Android version planned, so feeld free to develop it ;+)
Friendly yours,
Robert

[Edtek]

Thanks for this, it will help me a lot as I do a lot of prototype work.

Cheers Ed

[darkeagle]

Very interesting...
Only a suggestion: there is very good if in the pick list will be exported also the list of the refid of the parts.. useful for checkin it...
Thanks!

[VasiliSk]

Hello, i think i've found a bug

LABCENTER PROTEUS PICK AND PLACE FILE
=====================================

Component positions for BMS v2 logic.pdsprj

Fields: Part ID, Value, Package, Stock Code, Layer, Rotation, X, Y
Units: Rotation - degrees, X, Y - thou
Notes: The X, Y value is the centre of package as drawn in ARES.
The origin for these values is the Output Origin.
The values are a guide only and must be checked manually when
setting up automatic insertion equipment.

"J10","CONN-SIL6","CONN-SIL6","",TOP,0,-2131.89,1870.08
"J11","CONN-SIL3","CONN-SIL3","",TOP,180,-2165.35,-1830.71
...

there is unused Stock Code column

12
,
1,5,6,0,2,7,3,4

SmtAssist ini file, when trying to launch, says "missing mandatory value"

[alciom]

Strange, it works here with the same PKP file format and standard SmtAssistant.ini file. Could you please post your full PKP file for analysis ?

[Paul Spence]

The Pick n Place Output has a new tick box which allows the Stock Code to be output as a field.
We had some software which converted the pkp into something we could open in mechanical CAD, and it was tripped up when we realised there was this extra column in the file (stock code).
It may be as easy as modifying your code to account for the possibility of an extra field.
Or simply output the pkp again but switch off the Stock Code tick box and try again.

[VasiliSk]

LABCENTER PROTEUS PICK AND PLACE FILE
=====================================

Component positions for BMS v2 logic.pdsprj

Fields: Part ID, Value, Package, Stock Code, Layer, Rotation, X, Y
Units: Rotation - degrees, X, Y - thou
Notes: The X, Y value is the centre of package as drawn in ARES.
The origin for these values is the Output Origin.
The values are a guide only and must be checked manually when
setting up automatic insertion equipment.

"J10","CONN-SIL6","CONN-SIL6","",TOP,0,-2131.89,1870.08
"J11","CONN-SIL3","CONN-SIL3","",TOP,180,-2165.35,-1830.71
"J1","CONN-SIL4","CONN-SIL4","",TOP,-90,2401.57,-1680.71
"J2","CONN-SIL4","CONN-SIL4","",TOP,90,2480.31,1720.08
"U7","STM32F103C8T6","TQFP48 0.5MM","",BOT,270,1059.06,1269.69
"U1","TD350E","SO14","",BOT,90,2580.31,-1137.66
"U2","TD350E","SO14","",BOT,270,2360.63,1255.77
"U3","PC3H7","SO4_OPT","",BOT,90,2415.94,-505.039
"U4","PC3H7","SO4_OPT","",BOT,270,2584.06,-505.039
"U5","PC3H7","SO4_OPT","",TOP,-180,2132.76,1254.53
"U6","PC3H7","SO4_OPT","",TOP,180,2127.48,1420.28
"R14","160R","1206","",BOT,270,2283.46,1611.23
"R15","33R","1206","",BOT,270,2362.2,1611.23
"R16","1k","0805","",BOT,0,2635.17,1377.95
"R17","20k","0805","",BOT,90,2124.41,1242.79
"R18","3.3k","0805","",BOT,180,2089.24,1122.05
"R19","33R","1206","",BOT,90,2539.37,-1420.27
"R20","1k","0805","",BOT,270,2362.2,-1282.16
"R13","160R","1206","",BOT,90,2618.11,-1420.27
"R21","20k","0805","",BOT,180,2561.69,-885.827
"R22","3.3k","0805","",BOT,90,2854.33,-942.252
"R23","4.7k","0805","",BOT,180,2280.83,-669.291
"C1","100pF","CAP0805","",BOT,90,2283.46,-1198.16
"C2","220nF","CAP0805","",BOT,90,2440.94,-1380.58
"C3","100pF","CAP0805","",BOT,0,2635.17,1299.21
"C4","220nF","CAP0805","",BOT,180,2522.31,1456.69
"C5","3.3nF","CAP0805","",BOT,270,2045.67,1242.79

Just part of it. forum didn't let me post full listing
Standart ini didn't work correctly as layers not found

[alciom]

Just generate the PKP file WITHOUT ticking the "include STOCK codes" box and it will work ;+)
Robert

[Andrew Larkin]

I can't find the option to exclude stock codes in 8.5 SP1

Perhaps the option has been dropped from Proteus? Or maybe I have a blindspot.

If it has been dropped, then an update to deal with the (mandatory) stock code field would be a nice thing.

[Tom S]

You will likely need to resize (vertically) the file dialog until the checkbox is visible, as there is a bug in its positioning.