[Help] Finals Steps with Altium

[simon66]

Hello all,

I've been a eevblog viewer for a few months now and I finally decided to join.

I've used eagle CAD for all of my personal projects. A friend of mine bought me Altium Designer 13! I was able to design my project but this is also my first time sending it to a fab (oshpark.com to be specific)

How can I create a keep-out Layer? On my project the "board shape" is what I want my final board to look like. I've seen some places and they have some fancy lines around which I don't have.

Can some one take a look at my project and point me out what I did wrong? Or what I can improve on? Any help is appreciated!

Thank you so much!

[David_AVD]

I always draw the board outline on the keep-out layer with the keep-out attribute checked.

EDIT: I usually have the traces coming out of the centre of pads, especially round ones.

[simon66]

I always draw the board outline on the keep-out layer with the keep-out attribute checked.

EDIT: I usually have the traces coming out of the centre of pads, especially round ones.

That's my problem I think. How do I draw the board outline. I see info on the wiki but nothing really that helps me out.

Thanks!

[M. András]

like a track.  draw a line simply shortcut is p+l, switch the to keep out layer and draw it there, same with silk screen if you want custom shapes and you can define the board shape from the menu too

[Rufus]

That's my problem I think. How do I draw the board outline. I see info on the wiki but nothing really that helps me out.

You seem to have already defined the board shape (which is very difficult to manufacture with the square internal corners).

You can manually draw lines and arcs around it on a mechanical layer to provide the manufacturer with the outline. The 'Design | Board Shape | Create Primitives from Board Shape' will do it for you automatically.

[free_electron]

DRAW THE BOARD SHAPE ON THE KEEPOUT LAYER.
IF THE LAYER IS NOT VISIBLE
O-L AND TICK THE 'KEEPOUT LAYER CHECKBOX.
THEN DRAW USING ARCS , LINES WHATEVER
S-Y SELECT ALL ON LAYER ,
D-S-D  DESIGN BOARD SHAPE DEFINED OBJECTS

Oops didnt meant to shout. i'm in altium designer right now so capslock is on ... before i looked at what i wrote...

[simon66]

like a track.  draw a line simply shortcut is p+l, switch the to keep out layer and draw it there, same with silk screen if you want custom shapes and you can define the board shape from the menu too

That's my problem I think. How do I draw the board outline. I see info on the wiki but nothing really that helps me out.

You seem to have already defined the board shape (which is very difficult to manufacture with the square internal corners).

You can manually draw lines and arcs around it on a mechanical layer to provide the manufacturer with the outline. The 'Design | Board Shape | Create Primitives from Board Shape' will do it for you automatically.

Thanks! Does it matter how thick the line is? The "Create Primitives from board shape" does the trick faster but I keep getting some errors (Due to default Rules). I was able to make it but not sure if the line thickness matters.

Thanks again!

[AlfBaz]

Oops didnt meant to shout.

I was wondering who was making all that racket. Thought there was a fire!!

[mrflibble]

Oops didnt meant to shout. i'm in altium designer right now so capslock is on ... before i looked at what i wrote...

Is this some secret Altium handshake for those in the know? Turn capslock on, it will give you better PCBs? O_o

[free_electron]

Leaving capslock on in altium has an advantage ...
netnames and part designators are all neatly in capital letters like they should be.

[mrflibble]

MY NETNAMES ARE IN CAPS TOO, BUT I DONT oh wait, but I dont have capslock on for that. So basically, uppercase netnames. Check! 

Incidentally, do you use netnames starting with a plus/minus sign for supplies (a la +1V8, -12V), or some symbolic name like VCC/VDD/VWHATEVER?

[David_AVD]

Thanks! Does it matter how thick the line is? The "Create Primitives from board shape" does the trick faster but I keep getting some errors (Due to default Rules). I was able to make it but not sure if the line thickness matters.

I use a 10 mil line for the board outline.

[AlfBaz]

MY NETNAMES ARE IN CAPS TOO, BUT I DONT oh wait, but I dont have capslock on for that. So basically, uppercase netnames. Check! 

Incidentally, do you use netnames starting with a plus/minus sign for supplies (a la +1V8, -12V), or some symbolic name like VCC/VDD/VWHATEVER?

While we're at it what about net names with an Overbar or to put it another way, active low net names. Sure it looks pretty in the schematic** but locating these in the PCB netlist is not much fun when you have to type /l/i/k/e t/h/i/s

So do you suffer the mangled netname or go for something like the preceding underscore system

**When placing net lables on multiple pins the font size and pin grid conspire to hide the overbar with the above wire

[Rufus]

While we're at it what about net names with an Overbar or to put it another way, active low net names.

I have settled on a lower case 'n' prefix. If the nets come from a processor or programmable logic I want to use the same names in the firmware or HDL.

Supply rails I generally name like V5V or V3V3 or VM5V (for -5) but not strictly. It depends what makes most sense for particular circuits.

[free_electron]

P12V N12V V3V3 V5V L3v3 A3v3

Positive 12 volt
Negative 12 volt
Voltage 3v3
Voltage 5V
Logic 3v3
Analog 3v3

thats how i work.

please dont use overbars on netnames ! the problem is on dense schematics the overbar tends to disappear under a wire of the pin above ! and thi cause problemsn

use lowercase n before or after netname to indicate active low

nRESET
RESETn

I leave capslock on when in altium as netnames , part designators part values are always uppercase

120R 1K2 12K 120K 12R 0R33

1U 10U 10N 2U2 (CAPACITORS)

1UH 2U2H 10UH    (INDUCTORS)

AD720 LM317  .

Nobody writes lm317 or ad720

also : NEVER EVER use dots orcommas in part values. use the Multiplier letter instead of the dot. : 12.7K = 12K7

dots tend to disappear if you copy a printout... and your 12.7k becomes 10 times larger ...

[ludzinc]

120R 1K2 12K 120K 12R 0R33

IMHO, k should be lowercase, as it's defined in SI units.... i.e. 1k2 not 1K2.

[c4757p]

I actually prefer lowercase k simply because it's less likely to be mistaken for a capital R in a shitty scan/copy (and if you think scans can't be that shitty.... trust me, they can). SI is irrelevant, they also define both m and M but you're a dumbass if you use both of those in a schematic. And they sure as hell don't define the "1k2" notation.