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  3. How to move component so that the pad aligns to the pad...

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How to move component so that the pad aligns to the pad of another component (like Altium does)

johnbbsr
johnbbsr over 5 years ago

When moving a component, is there a way to make the pad line up with the component pad it is connecting to ?

For example, with reference to the screen capture below...

I want to route a straight track (net +1V2D) between the capacitor (on the left) and the processor pin (on the right)

Therefore I want to move the capacitor (vertically down) so that the pad aligns with the processor pin.

I have a grid setup and use the capacitor pad as the pickup point, but using the grid to do this sort of thing is difficult and restrictive.

For example, the pitch and/or offset might be different on the x or y axis and different components have different pitches etc 

There should be an option when moving components which automatically overrides the grid and 'snaps' the component so that the pads align

I've come from using Altium which had this feature, but I'm finding that Orcad seems to have a lot of these useful features missing (as well as being counter intuitive and restrictive)

Out of the 5 PCB tools I've used, Orcad is the only tool where you cannot cross probe from the PCB back to schematic (which is a ridiculous feature to miss out).  I would expect a free tool to have limited features, but even Design Spark PCB can cross probe in both directions !

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  • Robert Finley
    Robert Finley over 5 years ago

    "Dynamic Component Alignment"  introduced 17.2-2016  Options pane:  >dynamic alignment toggle.

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  • steve
    steve over 5 years ago

    What makes you think you can't cross probe from PCB to schematic? Of course you can........ Try Display - Highlight then check your Find pane (for selection options) then click on a part or cline (track) and it will highlight in the schematic......

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  • johnbbsr
    johnbbsr over 5 years ago in reply to Robert Finley

    Thanks Rob, I've just tried enabling dynamic alignment (in the Move options) but it makes no difference.  It does not align the component pads, it just uses the grid settings

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  • johnbbsr
    johnbbsr over 5 years ago in reply to steve

    thanks steve that seems to work :)

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  • steve
    steve over 5 years ago in reply to johnbbsr

    So click on the Preferences button in the Options pane for Dynamic Alignment then uncheck Component Origin (which is default) and now you should find that the pads can be aligned. You won't see an alignment guide but the ratsnest should show you when they are aligned. 

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