I don't know about you, but there are times that I have wished that after a new P.C. Board compile, I could just view into the job and see all of the defaults set the way I normally use them. You know, the via pads, anti pads, and thermal vias set to the company defaults. Or how about the bottom layer... I normally set this to 24 as the bottom most layer. The system default is 4.
Well, after much research (and a lot of blind luck), I've discovered how that one can 'preset' the P.C. Board editor defaults.
To do so, use a job that you have already got the 'company defaults' set on. Be sure that your bottom layer is set the way you want it, and the correct default via pad, anti pad, and thermals are set. Also make sure that the job size is set to what you consider a default (A, B, C, or D) size.
Through unix,
cdto the subdirectory of this job, and
lsthe directory. You should see a file named
windowZ6attThis file contains all of the attributes that you set from the main blue form. Type
suand login as super-user. Copy the windowZ6att file to the directory that contains the default PCB icon. This would be in the
data/incipsubdirectory.
The goal is to put your 'company defaults' into the system's default icon. This way, anytime that you compile a new P.C. board, your job will automatically use these preset defaults. Do not be afraid that you will be overwriting any file currently in the default icon, as there is none there to begin with.
In case you're wondering, Cadnetix used this same technique to set the defaults for customers who needed to use the metric system as their default.
Earlier, I mentioned setting the bottom layer to 24 instead of 4. Why would you want to do that? Most jobs are not more than 2 or 4 layers, so 4 should be sufficient. Right? Not necessarily so. I've seen many occasions where I've started a 2 - 4 layer job that grew into a 6 layer job. Yes, it is possible to add on past layer 4, using layers 5 and 6 as internal layers... but what happens if you decide to use blind or buried vias? They won't work very well with the above layer arrangement. (There is a way to recover, and continue, adding buried vias as needed. Perhaps in a future article, I'll explain how.)
For this reason, a company should have a 'standard' layer configuration that will work with most any job that comes in. It may seem like overkill to use layer 24 for a 2 layer job, but in the interests of being consistent with all jobs, it soon looks very sensible.
One of the other default items that may change is the vias being used. Cadnetix defaults to using .062 RD (32) as their default via, along with the deafults that they use for the anti-pad and thermal vias. Many companies have their own procedure for naming vias, anti-pads, and thermal relief pads. All of these can be put in as defaults so that one does not have to change them as the first operation whan a new job is viewed into.