RULES BEFORE ROUTING

 

Now that you’ve got the biggest part on your layout placed, which will help a ton when placing all of your other components. THere are some tips to keep in mind:

KEEP YOUR CONNECTION AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE

Your goal is to place all of your parts in a way that minimizes the length and cross-crossing of airwire connections between your components. Keep compatible parts together.

ADJUST YOUR AIRWIRES CONSTANTLY

As you continue to adjust the placement of your parts, your airwires will likely need to be recalculated. Whenever you place a new part or rotate an existing one, be sure to select the Ratsnest  tool on the left-hand side of your interface to redraw all of your airwires. This tool will give you a real-time update on how your placement decisions are affecting your airwire connections.

AVOID OVERLAPPING PARTS

All of those green circles and white outlines are part of the physical package for each of your parts, and they’ll need some room for assembly. If you end up overlapping those green circles, which are going to be exposed copper on your physical board, then you’ll get an unpleasant short circuit. Be sure to always leave room between components at all times.

HAVE FUN

The component placement process is a puzzle just waiting to be solved with your creative efforts. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to place your parts, just varying shades of optimization that you can discover. Take your time, and enjoy this process as much as possible. Below you’ll see how we decided to place our parts, but if it looks nothing like yours, then don’t sweat it. That’s what makes your design unique.