Designer 3.11 is here!

[dronne]

Please visit the Protocase Designer page at http://www.protocasedesigner.com/ to find the latest version of protocase designer. The major changes are:

• Face color reflects metal color - Done
• PEM Manager for adding/ editing PEMs
[list]
• Metric PEMs have been added

[*]Preferences Panel[/*]

• Metric/ Standard Units
• Default Directory for saving/ loading files etc
• Background & Face Editor Background Color

[*]Various bug fixes and minor improvements[/*]
[/list]

Enjoy!

[inthatcase]

It is indeed. But it's not particularly well-mannered.

I was nearly finished with a busy design (many holes). The version I had been using stopped launching, so it became upgrade time.

It was interesting to see that 3.11 allowed working on the top surface, rather than from the underside. However, I noticed that there was a consistent error in the hole placements - .001" in X, .014" in Y. Oh, well, 96 mounting holes to relocate. And flip the silkscreen file to make the lettering read correctly.

I am using a U case sideways. User controls on the top, PC boards mounted to the long front side, and connectors to the rear long side. Going to the rear surface showed the keepouts were significantly increased. It appears that I must crowd things, or increase the case size to accommodate the loss of usable area.

Is there some reason why the side and top keepouts increased in size so greatly? It's become a time sink and perhaps somewhat expensive to change the layout.

[inthatcase]

Having moved the holes into the valid areas left, I now find the silkscreen will not print over the keepouts. I can understand why holes might be forbidden to penetrate over a mounting flange, but disallowing paint anywhere on any surface is hard to understand.

I seem to be forced to choose increasing the case dimensions in order to permit the silkscreen to print properly.

[dronne]

We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulty with the transition to the newer version of protocase designer. We also recognize that there are remaining issues with the silkscreen process. The keepouts have increased in some instances because they were not large enough in the first place. We are constantly trying to make sure that if you use Protocase Designer to design a box, it can be built and will not have any defects. Sometimes this has led us to change the limits. That the keepouts prevent silkscreening is a bug - if you need a silkscreen over that area, you can submit your silkscreen graphics with directions as to which side it belongs on when you order your case.

When you say the hole placement changed, what sort of holes are you referring to? If you wouldn't mind I would appreciate you sending me your .cas file and if you like I can correct the hole placement if you tell me how they are meant to be. dronne@protocase.com.

Thank you,
--Douglas Ronne