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Designing CAD artworks

This section provides the information necessary for designingCAD artworks that will meet the tolerance and quality require- ments for a flex circuit. A correctly designed artwork will prevent unnecessary and costly delays in the initial shipment.Most CAD artwork is customer supplied. Minco can generateCAD artworks at additional cost. To generate an artwork, Minco needs:•Outline dimensions and tolerances. See Page 18. •Location and size of conductor pads. See the table on page 16. •Minimum conductor widths, minimum spaces between conduc-tors and conductor thickness. These will depend on current carry- ing capacity, impedance, dielectric, and the flexibility require- ments of the circuit. See the nomograph on pages 12 – 13.•Net list •Conductor paths can be captured from a net list or schematicwhen required. A design charge may apply. •Locations where the circuit will be bent, if any, and requiredflexibility at these locations (i.e. bending for installation or a dynamic application).•We prefer that you supply CAD generated data. If you cannotfurnish CAD data, we can digitize a physical artwork at addi- tional cost. CAD-generated artwork

CAD data guidelines

Minco c a n a cc e pt CAD d a t a in th e fo ll owin g form s Guid el in es for DXF
•Gerber RS-274X format (embedded aperture) photoplottercode is preferred. •RS-274D Gerber data with separate, detailed aperture list canbe used, but is not preferred.•AutoCAD DXF (2D) •AutoCAD DWG (2D) Other formats may be acceptable — contact Minco for details. •Place artwork data, part outline, hole centers, soldermask,coverlay, screen marking, etc. on separate, individual CAD sys- tem layers.•Polygons or zero width line draws for irregular pad shapes andshield area outlines are preferred (instead of filling in these shapes).•Supply arcs and circles. Do not convert arcs or circles into seg-mented lines.•Avoid supplying only conductor outlines, as it increases set-upcost. If you do supply conductor outlines, include supporting CAD system layer with proper line width conductors and pads. Tr a n s f e rrin g d a t a to Minco
You can transfer your media to Minco in the following forms,which are listed in order of preference.•E-mail: Contact Access: Minco Sales and Support at763.571.3121•FTP: Contact Guid el in es for G e r be r
When sending your photoplotter code, please include:•The format of the data •An aperture wheel listing (when required) •A list of layers with descriptions •The number of files supplied Access: Minco Sales and Support at 763.571.3121•Floppy (3.5"), Zip disk, or CD: IBM-PC format Guid el in es for all form a t s
•Single entity draws for conductors are required.•Single pad flashes are required. •Minimize the entities used to create conductor to pad transi-tions (“fillets”). 26