How to use FTCam Pro in place of paper schematics polarinstruments.com

Opening and viewing an FTD file Viewing and highlighting traces Loading CAD neutral files with an activated FTCam polarinstruments.com Examples in this tutorial

Please run through all the slides to give yourself an overview. Then launch the FTCam, and simply work through the examples yourself. Some time spent learning the hotkey shortcuts will save hours of your time once you have fully familiarised yourself with FTCam pro. polarinstruments.com How to use this tutorial

Opening and viewing FTD files (FTD is the native file structure of FTCam pro – ideal for sharing repair data if you do not want to authorise full release of cad data) polarinstruments.com Example 1

Open the sample file...

Here is the overall view of the sample PCB

The current view within the World view is shown as a red box

Double left click the mouse on any point to zoom in... Double right click to zoom out Lets zoom in..

ATE has noted this pad is at fault.. Highlight this fault by Typing “1”

The faulty net is highlighted in red.

Where does the trace go beyond this via?

Press X to “X-ray” the faulty net

Now you can see the faulty net as it traces across another layer. Double right click to Zoom out and find where it goes

The trace stops at this via Lets investigate further You can suppress the other traces for a clearer view

Select display options

Un tick track data

Now the faulty trace is clearly visible

Look at the other side by selecting layer 4

Need to know more about the net? Press P

Here is the pad and net info for the selected location

Now double right click and zoom out

Back to the whole board

Select display options

You sometimes need to turn the board over to trace a fault on the reverse First lets turn the traces on…

Now press space and the board mirrors.. So you can faultfind from the reverse side

Space bar again and it mirrors back

Also you can select another layer track display here.. Drop the menu down and select 1

Back to the top layer and original display.

Net selection methods You can select nets in 4 ways Net name Component and pin Net number Manually polarinstruments.com Example 2

You can highlight 2 nets at the same time for rapid fault tracing. polarinstruments.com Example 2

Press “1” to select fault 1

Press “2” to select fault 2

Now you can see where tracks are close to each other

Press “0” to clear fault display

You can also enter a net name, number or component and pin number: Select: Component and Pin

Press “F” or choose Tools Fault Entry

Type the component ident and pin number Case sensitive!!!

Now the faulty net is selected for you, useful when you are working through an ATE report..

Reading in CAD data (You will need an activated version to use this facility in order to load your own CAD data) polarinstruments.com Example 3

This example reads in a Cadstar file

Simply select the file and open

The input processor may ask you some simple questions, Cadstar may need to know if the designer has defined copper areas as tracks..

Here is the view of the imported simple Cadstar file

You can save the imported cad data in an FTD format, this allows you to distribute repair data in your organisation without the release of cad design data. polarinstruments.com Saving repair databases

For further information or if you would like to purchase a copy please contact your local Polar representative or You can find a full list of contacts and international offices in the “Where to buy” section of © Polar Instruments 2001 All trademarks recognised May be freely copied and distributed provided references to Polar are retained polarinstruments.com Thank you for taking the time to study this presentation.