SMD Pads in Altium

[sean0118]

Hi everyone! 


If you place a pad in Altium Designer 14 it's through hole by default. I guess you could make it an SMD pad by setting the hole size and one layer to 0. But there must be a more elegant way right?


What's the correct method for creating an SMD pad in Altium? 

[8086]

Change layer to top layer.

[sean0118]

Ah, of course! 

(The right Altium setting is always in the last place you look  )

[T3sl4co1l]

You wouldn't normally place pads on the PCB (library, yes!), but using them for SMT test points (instead of vias, which are obviously multilayer-only) is a protip.

Tim

[sean0118]

Yeah this was for a library custom component, but that's an interesting idea to use them as test points. 

[Christopher]

You wouldn't normally place pads on the PCB (library, yes!), but using them for SMT test points (instead of vias, which are obviously multilayer-only) is a protip.

Tim

I do Test points as a library part so you can choose the net on the schematic

[T3sl4co1l]

Yeah, I like to do that too, so you get them during placement and don't have to scratch around for space later.  Sometimes that doesn't work out as well in the design though.

Tim