I would like to ask a question on symmetric component orientation.
Most of the components are symmetric at least in one dimension, and most chips are square. For things like this, how can we ensure that they will be soldered in the correct orientation, when they are not soldered by machines out of tape and reel, but in prototyping by manual soldering?
For example, the attached picture show a component whose pin arrangement is:
1 6
2 5
3 4
But after rotating \[{180}^{o}\] , they become
4 3
5 2
6 1
And if soldered in this way it will surely cause the system to disfunction.
So how could I prevent this from happening? Do I have to stand beside the solder worker and checking with component’s orientation from my laptop, and point out the right orientation?
Add pin1 marker on the PCB. inside & outside is better especially for prototyping.
The circle inside is the reference for the pin 1. The triangle outside is also a pin 1 marker which will be helpful in debugging if the component is already mounted.
I see lots of blue and yellow crosses in your picture. Do they indicate power plane connection (different color for different planes)? I am using Altium Designer which also have such crosses so I would like to know if it is the same in your software.
And the silkscreen layer in your software is red?
Bob
---------- Post added at 09:48 ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 ----------
I see lots of blue and yellow crosses in your picture. Do they indicate power plane connection (different color for different planes)? I am using Altium Designer which also have such crosses so I would like to know if it is the same in your software.
Yes, you can set different color for different plane. Yes my silkscreen layer is red. Altium & PCAD is almost the same. its just that Altium is more capable on doing other things than PCAD. PCAD is a discontinued product from Altium.