Turn device without wire-contact lost?

I think rotating a part in a PCB layout and having the traces remain connected would be a very unrealistic expectation.

3 Likes

I agree. Even trying to keep traces connected when moving a footprint in the X and/or Y directions becomes problematical as the amount of movement increases - clearances get violated, traces touch other traces, etc.

(Off the top of my head . . . I’d suggest that PCBNew should attempt to keep traces connected when a footprint is moved, but if DRC violations are detected when the footprint is placed in its new position then all traces should revert to their pre-move locations, and the connections should be shown with the white rats-nest lines.)

Dale

Why ‘very unrealistic’ ?
Some tools can do exactly that now, and manage it better than in a SCH, but it does depend a little on the underlying database.
Some will attempt simple auto-reroute on release, which manages simple clean-ups.

I’ve also seen an unroute attached segment approach, which is similar to the suggestion above.

My suggestion would be to support all choices - keep attach and re-route can work well on 2 pin parts, or simple pin headers, while an unroute-attached-segment is probably better on a QFP/QFN package.