PCB Placement Assistant Software tool.

[mrpackethead]

Got this on the wire today about a free Placement Assistant Tool. Folks this is awesome! While this is probably designed with SMD in mind, there is NO reason why you couldn't use it with Through hole as well. Give you an ordered and structured way of working through your build. I have just had a play and love this!!

SmtAssistant is a new, free software tool that facilitates locating components on a printed circuit based on a picture (bitmap) of it and a Pick & Place (PKP) file. The tool, developed for internal use by Alciom, greatly facilitates the task of manually assembling prototypes, but it is also useful for inspection and repair of boards.

This handy program can read a pick and place file exported by a PCB design tool (tested with Proteus but designed to be interfaced to any PCB design tool capable of exporting a file containing component references, values and locations), assist the technician to prepare the components (sort by package etc.), import a bitmap image of the PCB and indicate the physical location of each component to place.

Compatible with any PC running Windows (XP/Vista/7), this software is offered for free for commercial and non-commercial use (of course the full intellectual property remains with Alciom). It may be redistributed provided that this is done free of charge and that the tool remains unaltered. The company will not provide support for using the tool, but they do welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

You can download it from http://alciom.com/fr/telechargements/ressources-gratuites.html The web site is in french, but the manual is in English..

[dirknerkle]

Nice! Just curious, what you specifically liked about this tool?

[Matt_Edwards]

It seems to use the p&p files and jpeg to find components. Probably a neat production tool

[mrpackethead]

@dirk.. No more bits of paper, silly spreadsheets etc. Its largely guiding you through the placement... and really helps with saving errors.