Printed Circuit Board Design Engineer Network - Click to return home

Vutrax Basic Training tutorial part 3, PCB Layout

Part 1> Part 2> Part3>

Rats Nest:
To start a Rats from the main Menu goto, Tools > Interconnect > Rats Nest.
To generate a rats you will need the following files.

*.WIR Net list from Schematic - Connections
*.LAY Layout file for Placement. For new rats click “New placement”.
*.LIB Libraries
*.WRL Rules file defining package types, track widths etc.
*.SLK Output file.
Click Run & good luck! This is the worse part of Vutrax by far, if you have problems at this stage you will need to go back over your library parts, the schematic & net list to debug the problem. Most times it’s a problem with a library part, & more often than not, a typo error.

PCB design: (Track mode) *.SLK *.GND *.MOD *.ART
Board outline:
To create an outline from the main menu goto, File > Open > Board Profiles. Type in a new name & draw a new oultine using the 2D tools.
Then in your *.SLK file import the outline. Goto, File > Merge > Board Profiles.
Mounting holes & Via’s – on the fly:
Its best if you are in Drawing Mode, goto, Options > defaults. Change the mode from Track to Drawing. Now use the Start Line icon to drop one point on the board, then hit End. Then change this single point to a hole, goto, Edit > Change Point > Change to hole or (P H). You now have a pad on screen, which can be redefined to represent any pad from the Pad Table by changing its pad size.

Layers:
Type (Sides) on the command line to see the Vutrax default layer arrangement. Generally, Top side tracking is placed on Layer 1. As default, all layer are switch on when a new file is opened, to switch layers on/off, click on the coloured layers bar along the bottom of the screen to bring up the menu. Toggle the tick box’s to switch layers.
Note: A quick way to switch layers, e.g, if you only want to view layer 1, then type SHW 1 on the command line.

Component placement:
Use Move Component to move a part (7th icon right).
Or to find & move a component using its name goto, Place > Move Component…
Type in the name, click OK & place the part down.
To Flip a part to the opposite side of the board use Flip Component (6th icon right).
To Rotate 90* use (F9). To rotate by so many degrees, goto Place > Turn.
Note: Only use Turn when you are near the end of the design as picking the component afterwards can be very tricky.

Optimise Signals:
This will optimise un-routed nets to reconnect them via shorter paths. Goto, Reconnect > Optimise Signals.

Tracking / Routing:
To start routing click Add Corner (F2) from the toolbar (10th icon left) then click on a track. To erase a corner click Erase icon (7th icon left) or (E), then click on a corner. To move/shift an existing track corner use Shift corner (F4) or (S) or (11th icon left).
Layers: To switch a track to another layer use Toggle Layer button (3rd icon right) or (L) then a layer number.
Via’s: To Via through to another layer use the Via button (1st & 2nd icon right) or type (V).

Groundplanes:
First you will need an outline. You can use the board profile or go into Drawing mode and draw one or more outlines on the required layers.
Goto, Route > Groundplane > Groundplane Fill. Click on your outline then a Menu will pop-up. Choose a net to fill from (e.g GND), choose a Target layer (layer from which the signal will be chosen), choose a Draw Layer (the layer the new plane will sit on). The plane generated will be given the name “Groundplane”.
Note: It is unfortunate in Vutrax's case that it doesn't name the plane after the net it was derived from. So if you want to re-name the plane simply type “name” on the command line, followed by the name you want to give it, then click on the corner of the plane.

DRC (Design Rule Check):
Ideally DRC should be run before & after Groundplane generation. Goto, Tools > Routing > Design Check.

Back to the main Vutrax menu >

These tutorials assume that the user is familiar with basic PCB design knowledge.

Associated sites:
DCB Automation - Automatic Optical Inspection for PCB assemblies.

Vivace Lighting - Luminus Products Ltd. LED lighting for architectural, constructional applications, hospitality, commercial and outdoor market places.