If you are designing products using Open Hardware such as BeagleBone, you are going to need access to Mechanical data to make sure your design will interface properly with other boards (Capes) as well as any enclosures. Normally this process involves two distinct groups: the PCB Design group and the Mechanical Design group. Many small companies may not have a Mechanical Group. Now there is a web-based service, IDF-TO-3D, from Simplified Solutions Inc (SSI) that gives Electrical Designers access to a powerful Mechanical tool.

Most PCB Design tools can Export a 2D IDF file. This is used by Mechanical tools to create 3D PCB models. The process requires that the 2D parts be mapped to associated 3D models. SSI has a fairly comprehensive 3D Model library but IDF-TO-3D can also accept uploaded 3D component STEP models from customers and vendors as well.

Above is the IDF-To-3D process in action. A first time user may take about an hour or two to go thru the process. After that, the process takes just minutes.

IDF-TO-3D gives the user a FREE 3D PDF File (shown above). If the PDF file looks good, then you can order a 3D STEP model. To introduce you to our service we have extracted an IDF file from the BeagleBone design.

You can import this file to our IDF-TO-3D service and see the results. By doing this you will get a FREE 3D PDF and a FREE Beaglebone STEP file. ($149 value).

To find out more about IDF-TO-3D, you can attend one of our seminars scheduled every Thursday at 7AM and 1PM EST or contact Keith Richman at keith@simplifiedsolutionsinc.com.

Steps to get your free BeagleBone 3D STEP file

1. Click here to download the BeagleBone IDF files. Open the .zip file and place the .emn and .emp files in a location where you can retrieve them.

2. Visit http://www.simplifiedsolutionsinc.com

3. Register or Login (Make sure you use your real email address…the STEP file will be sent to you at this email address)

4. Select the IDF-to-3D Tool Link

5. Select “Start New Session”

6. In the Load File tab, input a Project Name

7. Browse to find your .emn and .emp files downloaded in Step 1. Select Upload Files

8. In the Build, Download, and Purchase tab, select “Generate 3D View”

9. Select the HELP/CONTACT US link on the top of the page. This will open an email. In this email, request the 3D STEP file for the BeagleBone Board. We will email it to you.