SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 3D Integration Enhancements
Article by Delvin Masilamani updated February 4, 2018
Article
As a pioneering technology for E-CAD and M-CAD design, the development team at SOLIDWORKS has done a fantastic job with SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018. We have listed a few of the changes that take this product to a new level as a productivity tool.
Hardware management:
The improvements to SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 include a better way to manage hardware components like stiffeners, rails and heat sinks. The information can be pushed over to SOLIDWORKS PCB from SOLIDWORKS.
Z-Axis is now locked:
What does this mean? In SOLIDWORKS the components can move only along X and Y axis. Further reducing any possibility of introducing user driven collaborations errors between teams. The Hole will update in SOLIDWORKS when components are moved.

Holes update and move with the component
Embedded components:
In 2018 SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector, these are now positioned with precision when pushed from Altium Designer over to SOLIDWORKS via the PCB connector.
Variant Collaboration:
Allows for more form and fit testing as SOLIDWORKS PCB 2018 variants are represented as configurations within SOLIDWORKS. Components are suppressed when the variant selections are marked as NOT INSTALLED. A simple variance example, would be the use of variance for a North American design VS a European design.
https://youtu.be/5frM0xLhjZk
Performance:
Benchmark has improved drastically. Assemblies that took up to 20 mins to open in 2017 version of SOLIDWORKS PCB, now open in 6 minutes on first time and ~35 secs on second time.
Watch our SOLIDWORKS 2018 Launch Broadcast
Javelin’s team of Certified SOLIDWORKS experts unveiled the new software in a live broadcast. Watch a recording of the broadcast to see technical demonstrations and tutorials on how to use the new software. Click here to learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2018
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