Grid origin

On Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:45:03 +0100, Marco Trapanese wrote:

Hello,

 

is there a way to snap the grid origin to a pin or to a given point? I'm

not talking about the marker feature.

 

Sometimes you run in routing off-grid due to mechanical constraint or

custom footprint.

 

If only one component is off-grid it's enough to start routing from it.

 

But if most components are off-grid the only way I found is to move the

whole board so the interested footprint is now on-grid. It takes a lot

of time and is error prone (e.g. when you forgot to select all layers).

 

I think it would be very handy if I can set the origin of the grid

wherever I want. Or add an offset.

 

Any ideas?

I choose a grid that is salubrious for routing early on. Because the

finest pitch parts I use are 0.5mm I usually choose 1mm for components,

and some integer fraction of 0.25mm for routing.  Then I make sure that

every component with a fine pitch is on-grid (by using control left-click

to move parts, which picks the part up by its center point instead of

with whatever offset it had when it was dropped onto the board).

Then everything just works nicely from there on.

--

Tim Wescott

Control system and signal processing consulting

www.wescottdesign.com

Il 29/02/2012 16:11, Tim Wescott ha scritto:

I choose a grid that is salubrious for routing early on. Because the

finest pitch parts I use are 0.5mm I usually choose 1mm for components,

and some integer fraction of 0.25mm for routing.  Then I make sure that

every component with a fine pitch is on-grid (by using control left-click

to move parts, which picks the part up by its center point instead of

with whatever offset it had when it was dropped onto the board).

 

Then everything just works nicely from there on.

Hi Tim!

I already do this. But it works nice until you have at least one

component on-grid.

Sometimes it's not possible due to mechanical constraints. For example

connectors, LEDs, switches, and other components must be placed at given

coordinates (usually off-grid). Thus, I can't use ctrl + click to place

them on-grid, of course.

If I have just one component off-grid it's easy to route. But when you

have to connect several footprints and they are all off-grids it's not

so handy. Of course you can go on-grid in the nearby of each one, but it

looks ugly.

The long way I use is:

1. read the coordinate of the off-grid pin (x0, y0)

2. show all layers

3. select all

4. move (>x0, y0) (0 0)

6. hide not used layers

7. route the net

8. show all layers

9. select all

10. move (>0 0)(x0 y0)

To repeat for each critical footprint.

The short way would be:

1. read the coordinate of the off-grid pin (x0, y0)

2. "grid set origin (x0, y0)" (example)

3. route the net

Bye

Marco

Il 29/02/2012 16:11, Tim Wescott ha scritto:

I choose a grid that is salubrious for routing early on. Because the

finest pitch parts I use are 0.5mm I usually choose 1mm for components,

and some integer fraction of 0.25mm for routing.  Then I make sure that

every component with a fine pitch is on-grid (by using control left-click

to move parts, which picks the part up by its center point instead of

with whatever offset it had when it was dropped onto the board).

 

Then everything just works nicely from there on.

Hi Tim!

I already do this. But it works nice until you have at least one

component on-grid.

Sometimes it's not possible due to mechanical constraints. For example

connectors, LEDs, switches, and other components must be placed at given

coordinates (usually off-grid). Thus, I can't use ctrl + click to place

them on-grid, of course.

If I have just one component off-grid it's easy to route. But when you

have to connect several footprints and they are all off-grids it's not

so handy. Of course you can go on-grid in the nearby of each one, but it

looks ugly.

The long way I use is:

1. read the coordinate of the off-grid pin (x0, y0)

2. show all layers

3. select all

4. move (>x0, y0) (0 0)

6. hide not used layers

7. route the net

8. show all layers

9. select all

10. move (>0 0)(x0 y0)

To repeat for each critical footprint.

The short way would be:

1. read the coordinate of the off-grid pin (x0, y0)

2. "grid set origin (x0, y0)" (example)

3. route the net

Bye

Marco