Cooper Pour has holes

[Roli]

In some cases I get small unfilled parts in the cooper pour. Usually this happens in the corner.
You see this holes also in the ODB++ productions files.

[Serg]

To fix the problem, try changing the “Line Width” value in the copper pour properties.

Screenshot_1.png (13.39 KiB) Viewed 7284 times

[Roli]

If I make it smaler, then I see it on an other cooper pour. I did not find a setting that works for all cooüer pours. In my opinion it is only a work around, but not practical for a long Time.

[Serg]

"Line Width" – size of the lines forming the copper pour. It is one of the basic copper pour parameters.
If you specify a different “Line Width” when creating a new copper pour, this value will then be applied when creating the next copper pour as well.

[Roli]

"Line Width" – size of the lines forming the copper pour. It is one of the basic copper pour parameters.
If you specify a different “Line Width” when creating a new copper pour, this value will then be applied when creating the next copper pour as well.

That the new cooper pour apply the changed line width does not really help, when on the same PCB a cooper pour has holes with 0.635mm line width and fill correctly with 0.1mm line width but an other cooper pour on the same PCB is fine with 0.635mm line width and shows holes with 0.1mm line width.
Do I really have to check every cooper pour that it has no holes in the cooper pour and adjust the line width till it's filled correctly?
or can you say my a line width that works for all cooper pours on the PCB correctly? I did not see this feature with the holes in Version 4.x.

[Serg]

In most cases, the copper pour area is filled without visible gaps. Only in rare cases, due to specific configuration and object placement, it may be necessary to adjust the Line Width value.
The developer periodically improves this algorithm. At the moment, in version 5.2.0.4, the pour result may differ slightly from the results in previous versions.
You can send your file to our technical support (support at diptrace.com), and we will check the pour behavior on your design in the latest version of the software.

[jonmarkinson198]

Hello, is this considered to be fixed in a new version of the software? If yes, when can we expect the new version? I do have similar issues and this is very important for me. Thank you for the information and kind regards.

[Serg]

Hello, is this considered to be fixed in a new version of the software? If yes, when can we expect the new version? I do have similar issues and this is very important for me. Thank you for the information and kind regards.

If there is an unfilled area, this issue is resolved individually for each copper pour. You need to change (increase or decrease, with a minimum of 0.05 mm) the Line Width parameter.
If the problem still persists, please send the design file to our technical support at diptrace.com. We will investigate your project and try to help you.

[jonmarkinson198]

In theory, yes, but in practice this is not a long-term solution. Randomly manipulating the Line Width parameter, although it may occasionally help, is not a desirable approach in real-world use.

Some projects require a specific presence of a given copper pour between certain elements, for example between traces. By adjusting the Line Width parameter, I can easily define between which elements the copper pour will appear (it is sufficient to make one trace being slightly moved away from another, and apart from other parameters I do not need to change anything else or add separate objects such as Route Keepout areas to prevent the pour in a specific location). Randomly changing the Line Width parameter solely to remove some of the voids at corners breaks these relationships, because in many projects the copper pour is not just a simple area. Additionally, in the case of very advanced boards with non-standard, complex shapes, manually checking whether such holes are present or not is extremely time-consuming and introduces a significant risk of error. In RF and high-frequency designs, this is unacceptable, and although I personally do not design such boards, I believe there are users here who do.

I believe that the current algorithm works in such a way that it creates an outline path (that is a part of the pour as well) - having a width equal to the Line Width parameter - around the given boundary and then fits the copper pour to the inner edge of that path. If the copper pour parameters are such that the line width is smaller than the actual corner radius, these holes appear as there's not enough area to fill the larger radius of the outline path as the fill doesn't follow its shape (full solid fill has straight angles). As the quickest solution, I would recommend modifying the generating algorithm of a solid copper pour so that:

a) its edges start at the middle of this outline path (or at the outer edge of the given boundary, a PCB edge in this case):

pour.jpg (86.16 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

- or -

b) make sure the solid pour strictly follow the exact outer path shape's edge on inner side:

pour2.jpg (101 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

This would be the fastest fix - of course only for solid pours, hatched or striped pours are fine as they are and can remain unchanged. These crucial drawings above shows my idea. The violet line is some board edge, the red one is outer path and the green is the solid copper area poured.

Thank you for your consideration.