Protel.....er Altium challenge question

[grouchobyte]

I have an associate of mine who is rather conservative and is resisting upgrading his version of Protel DXP, which he has used for years, to a more current version of Altium. Go figure.

I kid him all the time about this, but since he is strongly affiliated with my current client, I entertain many of his ideas, most of which are well conceived IMHO

He knows I frequent this forum and is aware that there are several Altium "experts" that hang out here.

He has an unusual request and was hoping someone here might have some pointers or advice....here it is pasted from his email to me

How can I put all elements of a component on other layers besides top and bottom?"
There are a few circumstances where this will be useful:

1 I want to take a PCB layout put the entire thing, components and all, into a mechanical layer and then  superimpose another PCB on top. The old PCB layout can now be switched on and off can be used as a template to locate components.

2. I want to create a NETTIE component to tie , say two gnd planes together. Sometimes I want this net-tie component on a layer other than the top or on the bottom.


Thanks

@grouchobyte

[T3sl4co1l]

Honestly, I don't know that Altium has evolved much since the Protel days, as far as basic SCH/PCB functionality goes.  There's a lot of tiny savers, and a few bigger improvements.  AFAIK, it's still pretty recognizable.  (I haven't used anything earlier than AD09, so I don't know for sure how true this is.)

1. One example is: import whichever Gerbers you want, and set them to mechanical layers.  I've done this for aligning components, board outlines, mechanical 3D bodies and such.

I wouldn't recommend doing this for an entire PCB design, but only a relevant selection of shapes or layers.  Shit gets messy, fast.

2. Hmm, haven't tried this, but maybe build the net tie footprint on an inner layer (e.g., for a 4-layer board, enable Mid-Layer 1 and 2 in the library, and draw the copper and two pads on e.g. Mid-1).  It should still track side just fine, and avoids the confusion (or impossibility) of trying to place a footprint on an inner layer.  (Which by the way, is one of those small new features: around AD14 I think, they added support for components on inner layers, flipped or upright.  This isn't madness, but is an unusual feature: the more advanced PCB houses can embed small passives inside the stackup... for added cost, of course.)

2a. Please, just... don't split planes.  Bad example, maybe?  But, yeah...

Tim

[grouchobyte]

As always Tim, Thanks much for your insight! I'll pass along your comments

@grouchobyte

[Someone]

Paste special onto current layer?

[nns]

For question 2: In Altium, I've always just set the layer of the nettie to one of the internal layers (using the PCB inspector).  The pads move onto the desired layer correctly.  I'm sure you could always move the pads themselves to an internal layer as well.  Not sure how that would all work out with a split plane layer where objects are drawn in the negative -- I've never tried that.

[ajawamnet]

Newer versions of Altium have the ability of embedded components. Caused a bit of an issue with Flipped on Layer.

It's easy to make a Kelvin point component for any layer using a Nettie... Even 6.9.

As to using a pre-existing design as a layout template; you could just DXF out and bring all that back on a single mechanical (just map it when you import it) That's how I register my MCAD, since using AD's 3D stuff is a bit bloaty (Ask Dave I think that's a legit Aussie word).

There is one bug that still exists that Dennis on the AD forum mentions, that goes all the way back to DOS days (I should load up my old stuff and see). It has to do with NO ERC's acting as electrical objects

Here's a link to an animated GIF, since Dave's forum doesn't seem to like them:
http://www.ajawamnet.com/foopooNoERC.gif

Note when I put the No ERC on the crossover of two disparate nets they both assume the DB9TXD net name. As Dennis mentions on the AD forum, this can occur accidentally when dragging stuff around. If those were passive, you'd get no ERC warning since both would assume some autogenerated name.

http://www.ajawamnet.com/