Hi,

I want to pit a 19cm square hole in a PCB. I also want to indicate a 90 degree arc cutout at each PCB corner but I cannot find how to do this.
Can anybody help?

Andy

Your best bet is to do your board outline in an autocad like program that can save or export in dxf.
Place the board outline on one layer and our cutouts on a separate layer
Then import dxf into PCB layout..
When you import the dxf PCB Layout you will have to assign dxf layers to PCB Layout layers.
1. Assign Board Outline to "Board Outline Layer"
2. Assign your cutouts to a layer like "top mask" (temporarily)
3. Import dxf
4. Once dxf imported highlight the your would be cutouts and right click mouse and assign shape Property to board cutout.

Kobe.

Thanks for that.

The bit I was missing was the 'board cutout' property.

Regards

Andy

my pleasure.. I had same issue a while back.. it was driving me mad..took several iterations before it hit me..

1st time user here....I seek a similar board outline from dxf but stumbling out the blocks!

Just exported an eagle schematic & then imported into diptrace schematic editor - all good, from there I selected switch to diptrace's pcb layout....all good so far (ie I can see my components from onscreen)

ok, now what I want to do is import a board layout in dxf format...I've pretty much followed the above, but whe I click on the final import, I get prompted "do you want to save the file" (suggesting it's about to leave the present pcb layout with my components on that I 'switched' to from the schematic layout).

Sure enough after the dxf file has imported I can't see my components any more ...in short it looks like when I select the import dxf file option, it's closing the existing board layout down & opening up a new board instead.

So how do I 'merge' an dxf into an existing board layout with components on it?

Many thans in anticipation.

Try this:

Save your schematic.

Open new pcb layout... do your dxf / board outline import..

save your pcb layout with your new board outline.

In PCB Layout (with your new board outline) select "file" drop down menu... select "Renew Design from schematic"

select "by components..."

find your schematic and select it... this should dump your schematic components on your new board outline.

Good Luck! let me know if it works out.

Thanks I will try that later (I haven't access to the PC I'm trying to do this all on at the moment)

I have to say though...that sounds like a bit of a faff - is this really the way everyone has to go about it when they want to import a DXF board outline file into an existing pcb layout?

What happens, if at a later stage (i.e. having arranged all the components) if I decide for example that the board outline layout needs some adjustments?

Also, the bit I'm not understanding is how Diptrace would know 'what schem layout' relates to 'what pcb layout'. When I used the 'switch to pcb' from the schem layout window, it obviously opens up a pcb window & diptrace knows the two are linked, but if I then do it your way...

"In PCB Layout (with your new board outline) select "file" drop down menu... select "Renew Design from schematic" "

...so how does diptrace know the 'new' board I created is linked to the schematic - or does diptrace not care & will update from any open 'diptrace' schematic?

Typically... I have had no problem changing a board outline in the scenario of... I have a REV 1 layout and schematic complete, then import a changed/ new board outline.

I left the components where they lay and imported a new board outline. (paying close attention to where the datum point is (0,0)

Just suggested you try this "other way" so you can complete your task.. did not take much time to try and figure why your first attempt did not work out.

The "renew design from schematic" is a way of telling Diptrace which schematic goes to which layout.

I work from home alot... so sometimes I make schematics or layouts at home... I don't like keeping all my work on a USB drive so I may just save a schematic on my flash drive at home then go to work and link schematic to a particular layout on my work computer.. or visa versa..

Don't think Diptrace cares what schematic is linked with which layout..

Doing the "Convert to PCB" definitely links your schematic to a layout... but if you change directories of where you save a layout or schematic this link is broken. Then you need the "renew design from schematic" to re-establish the link...

Once you get used to the Program and become more familiar with it this will not seem like such a "faff".

When one imports DXF file, there is "import mode" option on dialog window. By default, it's "new" that means that new design will be created, old one is suggested to save. If you change option to "add", DXF file will be imported to existing design.

Hi Alex,

Thanks that was the bit I needed (I don't know how I've missed it!)

I was hoping to pull in an Eagle schem & it's associated board layout....I've seen there are dedicated Eagle ulps to do this....but how do I tell diptrace to 'marry' the two (schem & pcb) after I've got the files in a manner that diptrace can read?

rgds,
pesky.