removing pins from symbols

Hi Masa,

So the symbol needs to have pins because the pins contain the electrical information such as the netlist. The pins cant be removed without physically removing from the DRA in the symbol editor.

If your in the PCB editor and there are pins with a padstack you want to remove, they can be replaced by what is called a null padstack. Basically this would be a padstack that only contains mask layers. That means the physical etch would no longer exist in the padstack such as top, bottom internal layers etc.

To try that out go to user preferences and search for null. "Padstack_Allow_Null" , Enable that option.

You would also need to create a badstack without any etch layers to use as the replacement. When you have that padstack created in the pcb editor simply replace the
padstacks you want with the new null padstack. The pin will still remain in the symbol but the actual etch will be gone.

Best regards.

wow, thank u for ur response, excellon1.

i will try the null padstack.

regards

masa

it works, thank u excellon1.

but i wonder how i can get the locations of the null padstacks in case i need to find them.

regards

masa

it works, thank u excellon1.

but i wonder how i can get the locations of the null padstacks in case i need to find them.

regards

masa

Hi Masa.

It is probably easier to be able to see where those null padstacks are on the board just in case you need to find them. In this regard
you could use the "Film Mask Top or Film Mask Bottom layers within the null padstack for a visible cue. Make the pad on that layer large enough to see. You could also make the soldermask layer pad very small too.

Basically on your board turn off the everything and just enable the Film Mask layers to see the null padstack.

Something like this.

Best Regards.