The PCB Design Professionals

Convert – 04

The convert command is great for creating unusual shaped copper pours or board cut-outs. It is located under the Tools Menu, Tools → Convert or type T then V. for short. I’ll put the short cut keys in brackets from now on.

Say you wanted to create a circular board cut-out you could use.

- Design → Board Shape → Define Board Cut-out (D S C) It’s is hard to draw a circle of an exact size and shape.

Instead draw a circle using Place → Full Circle (P U) which allows you to define a circle with an exact radius.

To make this a board cut-out (you guessed it). You can use the convert tool, Tools → Convert → Create Cut-out From Selected Primitives (T V B).

Similarly you can do this  for a complicated copper pour area or even convert to a region to make a keep out area on any layer.

The convert tool really comes into it’s own when working along side a mechanical engineer, you can import mechanical drawings lets say for example a metal can that touches the board in several places. You can convert this drawing into a keep out and banish tracks components and via’s in that area forever.

If you have any questions or you would like us to do a tips and tricks on a specific topic, post a comment or email us at blog@blackstick.co.uk