move components without disconnecting traces

[Bluelarix]

We are using Ultiboard 11. 

When trying to move a component together with traces, it always gets disconnected. Also when we select right mouse > properties > pcb design > move traces. Anyone a workaround for this, because it is very frustrating....

Andreas

[Tayyab_R]

Hi Andreas,

If you go to Global Preferences -> PCB Design, there is an option called Part Drag and under that a check box which says Re-Route after move. If you check that you should be able to move traces with the parts.

Hope this helps.

[Bluelarix]

Dear Tayyab, 

Thanks for your answer, but this checkbox is checked, together with re-route fixed traces, but does not help. The parts we can move, but all traces stay the same, even if we selected traces to be able to move (so not fixed traces). 

Any other solutions to make this work properly?

Andreas

[Tayyab_R]

Hi Andreas,

This option only allows those traces to be moved which have been autorouted. Unfortunately, it does not route the manually placed traces.

[Bluelarix]

Hi Tayyab, 

Thanks for coming back to us. Unfortunately the autorouter does not make an acceptable job on complex boards, with high freqency power supplies, one should not trust autorouters. 

Isn't it a very necessary point of improvement to be able to move components a bit after routing has been done? 

And two other point for improvement: 

- measuring tool is very poor, we would really need a normal measuring tool to measure distances between pads, not just rulers with a very limited accuracy

- there is no way to organise the name / number combinations of the parts after routing, to get a nice organised board with numbers counting up from left to right on the board, for easy reference. 

For now we are not very happy with our choice for NI, the open source programs we worked with were more powerful. 

Andreas

[_user32]

Andreas,

Tayyab was not completely correct.   The 'place line' manual method (fully manual) does not redraw wire routes, however the 'Follow me' and 'Connection machine' manual methods do allow automatic movement of the created traces when a part moves.   I agree that autorouters are not perfect, but you can use the autoroute function on a per net basis and adjust to your preference as needed.

In general I recommend using the 'Follow me' manual method for most routing as it is better than 'Place Line' as it adheres strictly to any design rules you may have set.

Also:

>> - measuring tool is very poor, we would really need a normal measuring tool to measure distances between pads, not just rulers with a very limited accuracy

The rulers should not be used as the measurement tool, the preferred measurement tool is the 'Dimension tool' and they will give you precise measurements between any objects out to the number of digits you specify.   The best way to enable is to set your grid to a very fine grid (1 mil or similar).   Activate a mechanical layer and then go to the Ultiboard menu:  Place -> Dimension and select either Standard, Horizontal or Vertical dimension.   You'll need to select the "Other Object" selection tool to re-enable dimensions if you need to edit them further.   You can click and open properties to adjust settings for the displayed dimensions (you may have to zoom in to activate the created dimension).

>> - there is no way to organise the name / number combinations of the parts after routing, to get a nice organised board with numbers counting up from left to right on the board, for easy reference. 

I believe you will need to look at the following menu item:  Tools -> Renumber Parts (use the refdes mask to select only certain types of parts to adjust).

Regards,

Pat Noonan

National Instruments

[Bluelarix]

Hi Pat, 

Thanks for your answers, two of them are very useful. About the measuring, using the dimension tool, we knew already, although we think it is not as quick and powerful as one would wish. 

The follow-me method seems to work, we did some testing on the sample designs, now we are going to apply it in our more complex designs. 

The renumbering function is new to us, but very helpful, we did some testing, it seems to work alright. 

Thanks for helping out. 

Andreas