adding lonely wire to schematic/board

On 11/09/2014 02:49 PM, Hoyt wrote:

I have a board full of parts, no problem with the schematic or layout.

 

However, I also have a few wires that get soldered to the board in random

locations, say Fred here & Sam there, they solder to some vias (NOT

connectors)...they run some zigzag traces then leave the board by wire at

different vias.  These traces do not connect to any components.

 

How do I show these via (incoming)-to-via(outgoing) wires on my schematic

so they'll show as required traces on my board editor?

I've been faced with this same problem on several occasions.  I don't

necessarily want to clutter the schematic with single-pad devices just

to show a manually installed wire.  You can do this, to be sure, but it

creates separate nets when in fact they are the same net, and that

defeats some QA in that you can't "Show N$x" to highlight the entire net.

Like you, I leave via's at the wire end points as well.  But I'll also

employ one of the unused inner layers and rename it "JUMPERS".  Then

I'll route a 100 mil wide wire on that layer showing the intended path

of installation.  This allows for handy documentation for the assembly

house.  i.e. export an imageer.png showing the board outline, vias,

(maybe pads, too), tPlace, and JUMPERS.

For the wire width of jumpers, I usually use something really obtuse,

like 100 mil wide.  I'll also change the color and fill pattern of the

JUMPERS layer to make it painfully obvious.

The setup to allow use of an inner layer is in the DRC dialog.  Click on

the Layers tab and change the "Setup" text field.  For a 4-layer board,

I have "(123*15+16)", using layer 3 as the JUMPERS layer.  An example

is below.

HTH,

    - Chuck

Example of using a JUMPERS layer

On 11/09/2014 02:49 PM, Hoyt wrote:

I have a board full of parts, no problem with the schematic or layout.

 

However, I also have a few wires that get soldered to the board in random

locations, say Fred here & Sam there, they solder to some vias (NOT

connectors)...they run some zigzag traces then leave the board by wire at

different vias.  These traces do not connect to any components.

 

How do I show these via (incoming)-to-via(outgoing) wires on my schematic

so they'll show as required traces on my board editor?

I've been faced with this same problem on several occasions.  I don't

necessarily want to clutter the schematic with single-pad devices just

to show a manually installed wire.  You can do this, to be sure, but it

creates separate nets when in fact they are the same net, and that

defeats some QA in that you can't "Show N$x" to highlight the entire net.

Like you, I leave via's at the wire end points as well.  But I'll also

employ one of the unused inner layers and rename it "JUMPERS".  Then

I'll route a 100 mil wide wire on that layer showing the intended path

of installation.  This allows for handy documentation for the assembly

house.  i.e. export an imageer.png showing the board outline, vias,

(maybe pads, too), tPlace, and JUMPERS.

For the wire width of jumpers, I usually use something really obtuse,

like 100 mil wide.  I'll also change the color and fill pattern of the

JUMPERS layer to make it painfully obvious.

The setup to allow use of an inner layer is in the DRC dialog.  Click on

the Layers tab and change the "Setup" text field.  For a 4-layer board,

I have "(123*15+16)", using layer 3 as the JUMPERS layer.  An example

is below.

HTH,

    - Chuck

Example of using a JUMPERS layer

On 10/11/14 13:54, Chuck Huber wrote:

Like you, I leave via's at the wire end points as well.  But I'll also

employ one of the unused inner layers and rename it "JUMPERS".

I didn't think that was what the OP wanted to do. I might be wrong, though.

I didn't think that was what the OP wanted to do. I might be wrong,

though.

Tis correct, I just wanted a wire coming to the board, routing through the

board (connecting to nothing) then exiting the board at a different wire.

I wasn't sure how to put it in the schematic to force routing (such as

autoroute), but it looks like wirepads are the answer. 

The tips for board wire jumpers are appreciated, since I might need some of

those as well.

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