Hello,
I am having trouble setting the board size. Using the Edge Cuts layer and the drawing tools I draw a closed line around my PCB board. My board has mounting holes at each corner and I used the arc tool to have rounded corners. But, when I go to 3-D view, it shows a board with square corners and the 3-D viewer says the board size is not set. Does one need to double-click or something when closing the outline?
For mounting holes, first add them to the schematic, and assign footprints to them.
You can use arcs for rounded corners, but it’s a bit of a nuisance because you have to manually match the endpoints on top of each other. Together the lines and arcs must form a perfect outline, without overlap, line crossings or gaps.
It’s easier to:
Looks like your outline shape is not closed. A minimal gap will break it and cause errors.
Regarding the rounded corners - it’s easier to draw a rectangle, then right click > shape modification > fillet lines and enter the radius.
It is also fine to draw mounting holes as circles on Edge.Cuts if you like.
If you run the DRC, it will report edge problems under “Board has malformed outline” which can help find small gaps.
Thank you! Even though I have yet to route any traces, the 3-D viewer suggested running the DRC, which complained that the outline is not really closed and had the little red arrows to show where. I guess you are right about the pain in getting this right. I redid the two lines connecting two arcs more carefully and saw that the line draw properly snapped to the ends of the arcs and all is now good. Thank you so much!
When board outlines get complicated and critical, you are often better off using FreeCAD to draw the outline.
Beware that the tolerances on the edge routing are rather poor.
Whether you “shape modify” or “add arcs” to the corners, make your life easier by using the largest suitable grid possible for the job.
eg. Say you want a 100mm X 90mm rectangular board: use a 10mm grid. If you want 5mm arcs in the corners, use a 5mm grid. If the grid you need is not in the list, put it in the list with the “edit grids” feature at the bottom of the list.
There is no point in trying to create an accurate rectangle the above size using an unsuitably fine grid like .01mm.
When you have completed the Edge Cuts shape, change the grid more or many times to place your footprints.
When your footprints are placed, change the grid, again, more or many times, for drawing tracks.
Being able to change grids quickly and easily, and remembering to do so, is a big bonus for drawing PCBs and Footprints.
Drawing is even easier if you assign a hotkey to “Edit grids” when you need a new grid or want to change the “Grid Overrides” in Preferences > PCB Editor > Grids.