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I’m laying out a PCB with an intricate outline. First, I drew the outline (yellow in the picture below). Then I’ve added a copper pour at the top layer (blue in the picture below), but a clearance between the outline and the pour wasn’t created. The board outline didn’t clip the copper pour. (The clearance between copper pour and traces, components was created as expected.)

How can I enable clearance between copper pour and board outline?

enter image description here

Details

Obstacle type: Board Outline. Layer: Global Layer. Width: 40 mils.

Obatscle type: Copper Pour. Layer: Top. Width: 10. Clearance: 10

I’m on OrCAD 10.5

Not really looking for workarounds

I'm asking for a proper/prescribed way of doing this. I'm not so much asking for workarounds. I know a few workarounds already.

I can create a separate anti-copper obstacle between the por and the board. I can also draw the copper pour such that it doesn't extend outside of the board outline in the first place. But these things feel like workarounds. Is it not unreasonable to anticipate that somewhere the OrCAD has got a setting for this kind of clearance?
(Eagle has got one, albeit the setting is in a weird place.)

The board outline is pretty intricate, so I don't want to trace it out more than once. I haven't run into this problem before, because my previous boards had simpler shapes.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Setup -> outlines -> board outlines Then board edge clearance maybe? Or maybe shape to shape spacing in your physcial constraints? Just some guesses from using Allegro. \$\endgroup\$
    – Some Hardware Guy
    Commented Apr 4, 2015 at 22:05
  • \$\begingroup\$ Did you ever find the correct setting for this? \$\endgroup\$
    – justing
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 22:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @justing No, I didn't. I ended up hand-drawing the outline of the copper pour by hand (bypassing the small details with a wide berth where possible). \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Commented Oct 4, 2015 at 22:11

1 Answer 1

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You might be stuck with the "workarounds" because it could be a "deficiency" of OrCAD. I suggest researching the capabilities of OrCAD to verify it is capable of doing what you want. If it is capable, then you are provably violating some layout rules. Good luck.

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