Discussion:
Ground plane
Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/E1597aS9LT0CCvOHzKKcA@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-16 23:43:41 UTC
Permalink
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks Ernie
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Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks
Ernie<br>
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Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-17 00:21:37 UTC
Permalink
1. Find the "Add Fill Zone" button in the right hand vertical toolbar
2. click where you wan to start the plane (for example, corner of board )
3. Select the layer the plane will be on.
4. Select the Net the plane will connect (for example, ground Ground)
5. Change other settings as desired. (Defaults usually are fine, you can
change later with the Edit feature)
6. Press OK
7. Finish routing your ground plane shape. Double click to finish the shape

Flooding:
1. Click the "Add Fill Zone" button
2. Right click anywhere
3. select "Fill or Refill zones"

-Peter
Post by Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks Ernie
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</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks
Ernie<br>
</body>
</html>
vstrinski-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-17 00:29:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2. Right click anywhere
Actually that usually doesn't work for me. I have to click close to the zone edge and then get the proper context menu.
Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-17 00:32:12 UTC
Permalink
You should only need to click close to the zone edge if you are trying to
edit a specific zone.

Clicking in anywhere on the page and doing "Fill or Refill" will fill all
zones on the pcb.
Post by vstrinski-***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
Post by Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2. Right click anywhere
Actually that usually doesn't work for me. I have to click close to the
zone edge and then get the proper context menu.
Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/E1597aS9LT0CCvOHzKKcA@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-17 23:11:29 UTC
Permalink
Peter, that is the process I'm following for the ground plane. There are
two times you can do that. One is before autorouting and one is after
autorouting. Both have issues.

If I do the ground plane before auto routing then freeROUTE seems to
assume the plane is completely connected even if wires go through it
causing it to be cut in half. Then when I bring this back into kicad I
have a bunch of not connected ground planes.

If I do the ground plane after auto routing then . Everything is
connected, but there are large areas that are not ground plane. And some
times freeRoute doesn't pick an optimial path for the Ground traces
considering there is a ground plane (because it didn't know there would
be a ground plane when I autorouted).

This kind of problem won't show up with a simple board because the
simple board doesn't require a bunch of traces cutting the ground plane
into pieces. I can think of a few ways freeRoute would fix this, but I
see no settings to make it work. When I searched the web the solutions
are just basic things that don't work for the complex board we have
Post by Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
1. Find the "Add Fill Zone" button in the right hand vertical toolbar
2. click where you wan to start the plane (for example, corner of board )
3. Select the layer the plane will be on.
4. Select the Net the plane will connect (for example, ground Ground)
5. Change other settings as desired. (Defaults usually are fine, you
can change later with the Edit feature)
6. Press OK
7. Finish routing your ground plane shape. Double click to finish the shape
1. Click the "Add Fill Zone" button
2. Right click anywhere
3. select "Fill or Refill zones"
-Peter
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks Ernie
charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks
Ernie<br>
</body>
</html>
Peter Ogden peter.j.ogden-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-17 23:32:36 UTC
Permalink
I don't have experience with auto router tools, but I definitely can
appreciate your problem.

If you have ground planes on both sides of the board you may be able to add
some ground stitching after the auto route to force the power islands into
a single net.

Someone with auto router experience may be able to give some ideas.
Post by Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
Peter, that is the process I'm following for the ground plane. There are
two times you can do that. One is before autorouting and one is after
autorouting. Both have issues.
If I do the ground plane before auto routing then freeROUTE seems to
assume the plane is completely connected even if wires go through it
causing it to be cut in half. Then when I bring this back into kicad I have
a bunch of not connected ground planes.
If I do the ground plane after auto routing then . Everything is
connected, but there are large areas that are not ground plane. And some
times freeRoute doesn't pick an optimial path for the Ground traces
considering there is a ground plane (because it didn't know there would be
a ground plane when I autorouted).
This kind of problem won't show up with a simple board because the simple
board doesn't require a bunch of traces cutting the ground plane into
pieces. I can think of a few ways freeRoute would fix this, but I see no
settings to make it work. When I searched the web the solutions are just
basic things that don't work for the complex board we have
1. Find the "Add Fill Zone" button in the right hand vertical toolbar
2. click where you wan to start the plane (for example, corner of board )
3. Select the layer the plane will be on.
4. Select the Net the plane will connect (for example, ground Ground)
5. Change other settings as desired. (Defaults usually are fine, you can
change later with the Edit feature)
6. Press OK
7. Finish routing your ground plane shape. Double click to finish the shape
1. Click the "Add Fill Zone" button
2. Right click anywhere
3. select "Fill or Refill zones"
-Peter
Post by Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks Ernie
charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Hi, could someone please tell me how to make a ground plane, thanks
Ernie<br>
</body>
</html>
Charles Steinkuehler cstein-6CbHrGesSprQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
2014-05-18 00:52:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
Peter, that is the process I'm following for the ground plane. There are
two times you can do that. One is before autorouting and one is after
autorouting. Both have issues.
If I do the ground plane before auto routing then freeROUTE seems to
assume the plane is completely connected even if wires go through it
causing it to be cut in half. Then when I bring this back into kicad I
have a bunch of not connected ground planes.
If I do the ground plane after auto routing then . Everything is
connected, but there are large areas that are not ground plane. And some
times freeRoute doesn't pick an optimial path for the Ground traces
considering there is a ground plane (because it didn't know there would
be a ground plane when I autorouted).
So fully connected but meandering route is equally as bad as not
electrically connected?!? The answer here is obvious: If you don't have
a real ground plane and are using copper pours, you need to add them
after the board is routed.
Post by Ernie Hatt erniehatt-/***@public.gmane.org [kicad-users]
This kind of problem won't show up with a simple board because the
simple board doesn't require a bunch of traces cutting the ground plane
into pieces. I can think of a few ways freeRoute would fix this, but I
see no settings to make it work. When I searched the web the solutions
are just basic things that don't work for the complex board we have
If you really have a complex board, you need something more advanced
than freeRoute for an auto-router. I use Specctra at work, but
freeRoute has done a good job for my on my open-source designs done with
KiCad (the CRAMPS board: http://reprap.org/wiki/CRAMPS).

I route with some zones defined for the high-current power traces, but
no ground zone copper pours. After routing, I add the ground copper
pours and manually tweak the routing generated by the auto-router to
maximize the area covered by the Cu pours. I also look for the
worst-case ground return paths, and typically add a few vias to keep the
current return loops small.

If you expect to have a "clean" board after auto-routing without a fair
amount of manual cleanup, you either have very simple boards, or
unrealistic expectations. :)

Oh...I also typically pre-route a number of signals to 'encourage' the
auto-router to do a better job or to avoid repeated cleanup of the same
signals after various auto-router passes. Typically I pre-route
sensitive analog traces and some "flow-through" traces the auto-router
isn't quite smart enough to recognize on it's own. Part of the black
art of successfully using an auto-router is knowing which traces to
pre-route, what constraints to place on the auto-router, which traces to
route first, etc. There's a wide assortment of tweaks you can use with
routers like Specctra, I haven't had to do much other than pre-routes
(yet) with FreeRoute, but I haven't tried it with anything that's very
complex yet.
--
Charles Steinkuehler
cstein-6CbHrGesSprQT0dZR+***@public.gmane.org
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