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I want to generate the centroid and panelize the board as if it is going through the surface mount machine (parts on the top side).

I am working on a board which has the parts on the bottom side. There are no parts on the top side. How do I flip the board over so the parts are on the top side? I want to generate the centroid and panelize the board as if it is going through the surface mount machine (parts on the top side).
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Yes please use command view backside. The proceed with generating components (like normal from the top side).  When you're done uncheck view backside and FAB 3000 will automatically adjust all rotations, orientations, required for bottom side. Then export centroid as normal.

I switched to bottom view, added components, set rotations and assigned reference designators. I did all this as if I was looking at the circuit board from the parts facing towards me.

I switched bottom view off and exported the centroid data.

When FAB3000 generated the data all the rotations are now backwards. Meaning that if in FAB3000 the rotation is 0, the exported centroid data shows a rotation of 180.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks for your fast response.  

1.  Different Pick/Place machines require different rotation requirements.  We try to make FAB 3000 compatible for all Pick/Place machines, so during Centroid Export you can control the output rotation from the settings "Angle Origin".  If you're getting 0 degrees on the backside (and want 180), set angle Origin to "9 O-Clock" when exporting Bottom components.


2.  The benefit of using View -> Backside is that it allows you to treat the bottom side rotations exactly like the Top.  One of the most confusing things when generating components is having to determine the differences in rotation between top and bottom.  Mastering top side, and then using View->Backside allows you to still use the exact same rotation rules on Top as on bottom.  Here's an awesome article that may be helpful regarding the rotations from Top and bottom that FAB 3000 uses:
https://numerical-help-guide.s3.amazonaws.com/understanding-the-centroid-file-r2-2.pdf

Note:  Feel free to send support ([email protected]) your sample workspace file (*.wrk), and we'll be happy to create a tutorial movie showing how to generate centroids using your design.

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