Defining and Using Multiple Customizable PCB Grids to Save Time on Your Layout Process

John Magyar

| Created: February 21, 2017 | Updated: September 25, 2020

Relying on one grid size can require frequent step size changes, as well as a unit of measure change, and possibly even board origin location changes, in order to achieve all required grids. Read to understand how customizable grids can help to resolve this complicated and manual process.

It’s possible to rely exclusively on your default grid for all aspects of component placement, trace routing, and mechanical or special object placement. However, reliance on one grid size requires frequent step size changes, as well as a unit of measure change, and possibly even board origin location changes, in order to achieve all required grids. This is where customizable grids come in to resolve this complicated and manual process.

Using Grids to Speed Up Your Design Process

Placing components of a specific grid can help speed up the component placement and alignment process. It can also help achieve optimal component density. As most component footprints are defined in millimeters, one or more dedicated, user-defined metric grids can be defined to accommodate component placement. Such grids can be specified to be only when in component placement mode, and to remain disabled and invisible while routing traces.

Components and Arcs placed precise on a 15 degree angular step and 0.5 mm radial step

Want to learn how to save time on your PCB layout process? Download our free whitepaper about Defining and Using Multiple Grids in Altium Designer^®.

Check out Altium in action...

Powerful PCB Design

Altium Designer - PCB Design Software Altium 365 - PCB Design Platform Enterprise PCB Design Solutions FREE Trials

About Author

About Author

With an emphasis on microprocessor systems design, John earned his Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Polytechnic Institute. He initially worked as a design engineer in the Defense industry developing diagnostic test programs for complex PCBs. Subsequently, John has worked as a senior application engineer in the EDA industry supporting a wide range of ASIC, FPGA, and PCB design and verification solutions.

More content by John Magyar

Related Resources

risk vs reward

Risk Vs. Reward During the recent IPC APEX expo, there was a lot of discussion about SAP, or semi-additive PCB processes. As with any new technology in PCB manufacturing, there were people that are excited to jump right in and start designing with much finer feature sizes and work through the inevitable changes to the traditional thought process. Others are in a let’s wait and see mode and of course, there are a few skeptics there as well. There were a few stand Read Article

Unleash PCB Design

Unleashing the Power of Concurrent PCB Design Introduction In the fast-paced world of electronics engineering, efficient design methodologies play a pivotal role in delivering cutting-edge products on-time and within budget. One powerful approach is PCB CoDesign, a solution that revolutionizes collaboration among engineers. By allowing multiple design tasks to be executed simultaneously, PCB CoDesign enhances productivity, enables faster time-to-market, reduces project cost, and fosters Read Article

laser range finder

Build Your Own Laser Range Finder Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040) is a cute piece of hardware. It is equipped with a powerful dual-core RP2040 microcontroller that offers 2M (up to 16M) Flash and 264K SRAM memories. Such specifications for an MCU make it suitable for a variety of hobby and industrial applications. In this article, I used an RP2040 Zero board, a VL53L0X Laser time-of-flight ranging sensor, and a 2.4” TFT display to build a graphical laser rangefinder unit that can be Read Article

SDRAM vs DDR

Using SDRAM vs. DDR RAM in Your PCB Design SDRAM is a slower predecessor to DDR, but you might not need DDR for every application. Here’s how you can compare SDRAM vs DDR for your design. Read Article

From RC to Atomic Clocks: All Clock Sources

From RC to Atomic Clocks: All Clock Sources In almost modern circuits, especially whenever digital circuitry is involved, you will find some kind of clock source. All clock sources present a series of tradeoffs regarding stability, reliability, size, power consumption and cost. Luckily for us, such tradeoffs are relatively simple and can be explained almost fully within this single article. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each clock source, from the RC in a 555-powered oscillator, to a Read Article

Temperature Sensor Project: Digital Temperature Sensor ICs

Temperature Sensor Project: Digital Temperature Sensor ICs The final article in this series looks at digital temperature sensors pitting all the sensors we’ve tested against each other in a head to head contest over a wide range of environmental conditions to allow for a comparison of their functionality, accuracy, and behavior. Read Article

Cellular internet of things design and devices

Using Cellular Modules for Internet of Things Devices and Design Cellular internet of things products are widely accessible and easy to design thanks to standard cellular modem modules and transceiver components. Read Article

Integrated circuit CMOS load capacitance

How Load Capacitance on a Transmission Line Affects Your Signals If you ever read about transmission lines and integrated circuit datasheets, there is this seemingly mysterious quantity called load capacitance. This value depends on the geometry of the component lead connected to the transmission line, as well as the substrate material and distance to the reference plane on the integrated circuit die. When working with transmission lines, the load capacitance of a component has some important effects on signal Read Article

USB 4 PCB design

USB 4 Design: Ultra-fast Serial Data Transfer for Your PCB USB 4 will bring ultra-fast serial data transfer to your PCB. Here’s what you need to know about USB 4 design for your PCB. Read Article

A Guide to Challenging Projects

A Guide to Challenging Projects Starting a project? Here's an expert advise from Mark Harris to get you through challenging design projects. Read this blog and see if this method will work for you. Read Article

Related Technical Documentation

Back to Home

Table of Contents

Using Grids to Speed Up Your Design Process

Take advantage of the world's
most trusted PCB design system.

One interface. One data
model. Endless possibilities.

Effortlessly collaborate with
mechanical designers.

The world's most trusted
PCB design platform

Best in class interactive
routing

View License Options