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T O P I C    R E V I E W
Boris Posted - 04 Sep 2008 : 15:49:52
I have recently upgraded to version 12 and for some reason I cannot get the copper pour to work properly.
I created a copper pour rectangle and assigned it to a net (GND) and set the thermal releifs up as normal. When I pour the copper it will not join to the GND connections and keeps away form all the tracks and pads as if it had no net affilliation.
Have I forgotton to set something up somewhere or is there a fault with copper pour with this new version?

Has anyone else had a similar problem and found a way round it?

Many thanks, Boris
9   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
Zebryk Posted - 23 Jun 2018 : 20:35:25
Same thing just happened with me using the latest and greatest.

In my case, I could not get thermal spokes until trying the procedure described in the post by Boris on September 17, 2008. Basically, I just added a trace connecting my GND test point to another GND item close by. (A Via) Then, I cleared my copper pour and added the pour again. Bang! The SW did not generate any further dialogs as in Boris experienced.

This bug goes back to 2008?


olga Posted - 29 Sep 2008 : 13:52:02
The latest patch seems to have done the trick for what was going wrong with my board.

I hope it's fixed other people's issues with it!

Thank you very much to Tech Support and the Programmers, for providing such good service, as always!

Best wishes,
Olga.
Boris Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 14:55:42
Hi Peter,
From the menu bar at the top of the screen I selected 'add copper pour rectangle' and added the rectangle onto the bottom copper layer.

The actual layer was already active and I did not need to pick the rectangle and re-assign it to the bottom copper, (just in case it is important for plugging the loophole).

I then picked the rectangle, and with the right hand mouse button, picked 'add to net', (this is what I always do because I keep forgetting that you have the oportunity to assign it in the pour copper dialogue box).

Thus assigned and selected I clicked the right hand mouse button and selected 'pour copper'. The dialogue box came up and I entered the spoke size of 50 (thou) and gap of 15 (thou). I left the min copper area alone at 2500, ticked the thermals on pads but not vias, ticked solid fill, and left the isolated islands box with both entries unticked.
Satisfied, I clicked O.K. and the GND plane filled in but refused to join to any GND pad.
I tried various shapes of copper fill and all the results were the same.
I removed it, remade it and joined it to the GND net in the copper pour dialogue box and still it would not join to a GND pad.

As you know, from that point I took a track from a GND pad and took it into the area fill, also named GND. The dialogue box came up and asked if I wanted the two nets (both named GND remember) to as be as one called GND. I clicked yes and all was fine. No other pads from GND were connected to the area fill at this point.
I cleared the fill and re-poured immediately and it joined to all the GND pads as good as gold.

I have used the copper pour on other jobs since this time with no problem whatsoever.

I know this has been a bit laboured but I hope it will help you in determining what the loophole is.
The silly thing is I cannot reproduce this fault anymore now that the program seems to 'know' what to do. . . . . gulp!

Boris
Peter Johnson Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 13:29:25
Boris, you've managed to reproduce a problem that we know exists, but haven't been able to trigger. Sometimes, it seems, when a net is linked to a copper pour area, instead of linking to an existing net, it illegally creates a duplicate net name. That, naturally, causes all sorts of problems, including the one you observed. What you did when you were asked to join nets is to merge the two illegal copies into a single (legal) net.

If you can figure out how you named the copper pour area in the first place, I'd very much like to know, as it's a loophole that needs plugging!
Boris Posted - 17 Sep 2008 : 11:22:45
Many thanks to everyone for your comments.
Sorry for delay in looking at this web site but I have been away.
This is how I actually got round the problem: -

When the copper pour kept away from all the pads I decided to run a track into the copper pour area from a GND pad anyway. As soon as I tried to place it down it gave me the warning that 'do you want to connect GND to new net GND?' I said yes and it joined. I immediately un poured the copper and re-poured and Lo and Behold it joined to all the pads with spokes as good as gold!
Weird!
I promptly opened a new job and created copper pour areas and it worked perfectly and has done ever since, just one of things I suppose?

Many thanks again to you all,

Boris
Iain Wilkie Posted - 16 Sep 2008 : 15:47:51
This may or may not work.... but I think I had the same problem a while back and fixed it by using a thinner line style on the copper pour .... maybe worth a try

iain
olga Posted - 16 Sep 2008 : 12:15:34
I seem to have found a problem with the copper pour as well.
I'm modifying a board and needing to re-pour just the bottom layer. I've un-poured it, made my changes (changing the length of a mitre on a couple of tracks) and gone to re-pour it, keeping all the settings the same.

When I pour the copper, it gives me a report which says that every pad & via has no thermal spokes, and no copper actually is present.

If I turn off delete isolated islands, and then pour, all I get is one isolated island!

I've also tried this without un-pouring first, with the same copper-vanishing results.

I've also tried re-pouring it without changing any of the tracks, and this fails too.

I haven't had any problem so far with pouring copper in a design fully created with Version 12, so I wonder whether it's something to do with the importing of files created in V11?

TIA for any help!

Best wishes,
Olga.
Peter Johnson Posted - 11 Sep 2008 : 10:20:28
There's no specific problem with copper pour, though it's such a complex algorithm that there's an almost continual background level of work on it to solve specific problems.

That means that it's always a good idea to have the latest patch, and if you have any specific problems (as in this case), it's worth sending a copy of the design in to support for investigation. While it can't be absolutely guaranteed, pour problems are usually turned around quite quickly.
pedro444 Posted - 04 Sep 2008 : 18:41:42
I recently upgraded to version 12 but have not actually used it yet. My next PCB will need routing areas so I gave it a quick try. It all seemed to work ok. I looked at an existing board that seems ok too. There is a comment in the upgrade to 12.0.1 about routing areas, nothing to do with that is it?