hello, we're duplicating some legacy boards. in order to avoid flight testing i hand-routed the traces to match the old artwork. i believe that i just came close to making a SERIOUS mistake. i used the pcb wizard to generate the board but then hand-editted the various notches in it. the keepout was in the way and i was going to hand rout everything so i deleted it.
there is a power and ground plane on this board and there are machined metal card guides that get mounted to the board. does this sound ugly? i'm thinking (i know that's rare ;-) that by deleting the keepoutlayer i've let the planes come right out to the edge of the board. is this correct? if so, i've created a potential short between power and ground when the card guides are attached to the board. i put the keepoutlayer back on there, but i'm nervous. when i add the power plane to the viewable layers, the only place it is evident is around the pads and vias, where a dark green edge appears to isolate them. pads that are supposed to be tied to power have a broken circle out away from them a bit. but the dark green vcc "void" hasn't appeared outside my keepoutlayer. i get the feeling that putting the keepoutlayer back in there has not cured my problem. my questions: 1. the dark green i'm seeing represents the "negative", or holes, in the power plane, correct? 2. after simply drawing the keepoutlayer back in, i am not seeing the dark green power plane void outside the keepoutlayer. does this mean that i still have the power plane running right to the board edge? 3. without a keepoutlayer do the planes extend right to the board edge? 4. how do i recess the power and ground planes back in a few mils on this board? 5. can i visibly see the planes recessed back from the card edge in protel or do i need to generate gerbers and use camtastic to do that? thank you, miker * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
