Hi Guys
The problem seems to be with the ground fill in Fritzing. If I export without ground fill, all traces pull through as expected. As soon as I add the “ground fill” some of the traces disappear. I have checked that all traces are connected.
I do believe that this is a “known bug” in Fritzing. Is there a work around for it?
Below if an example of what I mean…
Thank you
I do not believe it is a bug but instead those traces are all ground traces that are connected to the ground fill seed you selected.
What is the difference between ground & copper fill? When will you use one over the other. I’m so lost with all of this and have been going in circles on the interweb.
If I have use ground fill, some of my ground traces disappear. If I use copper fill, all the traces are displayed. When submitting the board to AISLER, the ask for the board to be ground fill. My first batch came back with missing traces.
The difference is ground fill is connected to all traces that are part of the ground seeds you selected. You use ground fill usually to reduce noise between traces/components. Copper fill is simply filling the unused space with copper and serves little purpose other than reducing the amount of copper that has to be removed from the board during etching/milling.
You say missing traces but again from you previous picture they are not missing but rather they are all now part of the ground plane. If you use a multi-meter to check continuity between ground pads you will see they are still connected as before doing the ground fill and nothing has been removed.
Now if you have selected the wrong pads as ground fill seeds then your board will not work and you will need to clear the ground fill seeds and set them up again making sure you only select pads that are part of your ground (v-) net.
Aah, sublimeartistry. After reading your initial response it dawn upon me. I really had that light bulb moment. I now get how the fill works. It also minimizes that amount of traces (space as well) that has to be printed out on the PCB, essentially.
I still have issues with my boards, but that was a step in the right direction. This is my first PCB, so learning as I go along.
Thank you so much for your help. I really do appreciate it.
No problem. We are all here to help each other make cool things.