Ground/copper fill component spacing

Hi,

I've searched on the forum and there is a previous request for the ability to set the spacing between components and the copper fill. I'd like to second that request, but also question whether anyone knows in which .cpp file the spacing is defined? I wouldn't mind recompiling the app so I can get a few more mils of space around SMD components, as hand etching/soldering with just two mils of space won't be easy...

Thanks.

-Elijah

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Elijahg

Hi Elijah,

Copper fill spacing around SMD components is actually around 6 mils--though this may still be a challenge for hand-soldering.

You could try increasing the "BlurBy" constant in pcbsketchwidget.cpp.

Cheers,

- j

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Jonathan Cohen

That's perfect, thanks! You really are a Fritzing guru ;)

I tweaked both BlurBy (to 10.5) and StrokeWidthIncrement (to 10) to get more sensible home-etch spacing. Perhaps an option to either use a professional spacing or homebrew spacing in the Ground Fill submenu would be good? Or perhaps as outputting etchable to PDF/SVG is always going to be home etch, having a window pop up asking if you'd like to increase the spacing would be useful?

Thanks again though!

-Elijah

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Elijahg

Hi Elijah,

Good suggestions. The only difficulty here is that we are trying to figure out a way to make these options available without overwhelming/interrupting the user. Maybe a global setting of homebrew vs professional (which allows customization for advanced users) which sets keepout, autorouting, and groundfill options.

Cheers,

- j

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Jonathan Cohen

Thanks for your reply. I think a global setting would be good.

Perhaps when a new sketch is created, or the first time you switch to PCB view, you could pop up a dialog asking the user how they intend to etch the PCB, either homebrew or pro. Also within the dialog explain that the setting can be changed in X menu. You could change "Autorouter Settings" to "PCB settings", then the user could either choose homebrew/pro/custom which'd affect PCB spacing in addition to the autorouter settings.

Regards,

-Elijah

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago by Elijahg

Most useful thread! My local fab has a limitation at 10 mils, so I definitely need to alter the value in the code.

I increased BlurBy to 5 (roughly 12 mils between smd parts and components) for fab compatibility and decreased StrokeWidthIncrement to 5 (between wires and planes). I found that the higher value of StrokeWidthIncrement leads to many isolated copper areas on the board, so much more work to correct (by connecting them together with wires). On the other side, with a smaller distance between wires and planes I will have to place additional decoupling capacitors between the ground fill and the power wires.

Regards,

Bernie

Posted 10 months, 1 week ago by Bernie

Bumping up the priority on this request.

Cheers,

- j

Posted 10 months, 1 week ago by Jonathan Cohen

Hi, what/where is this pcbsketchwidget.cpp where you can set 'BlurBy'?

regards

Guus

Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago by gvorster

Hi Guus,

In {fritzing download folder}/src/sketch/

- j

Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago by Jonathan Cohen

yes please add some options for copper fill disctance to traces.. would be great have.

greets Gijs

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago by gijs gieskes

It's in the next release.

- j

Posted 1 week, 4 days ago by Jonathan Cohen

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