Altium keep out strategies for components (but not traces)

[rcasciola]

I was wondering how others handle the concept of a keep out for components, but allowing traces.

For instance, if some mechanical part of the housing comes down and touches (or nearly touches the PCB), I want to be able to route traces there but not place components. If I put some object (Arc, Track, Polygon, etc.) there and assign the keep out attribute, it will keep out components AND traces.

Is there a way to use a mechanical layer to define an area where traces can go but components cannot?

Taking this concept a bit further, is there a way to use a mechanical layer to define a maximum height for particular components in an area? For example, the housing might come down to within 0.75mm of the PCB in some area, and in that area 0201 resistors would work, but 0805 capacitors could not.

Thanks,

Randy

 

[Anonymous_Ricky]

Use Room Definition for all the above purposes
Define room in selected area and in properties assign keep object outside similarly for hieght constraint also

 

[rcasciola]

Re: Altium keep out strategies for components (but not trace

Use Room Definition for all the above purposes
Define room in selected area and in properties assign keep object outside similarly for hieght constraint also

That's a reasonable technique, and one I hadn't thought of. However, I have arcs as part of my 'keep out' areas, and Room definitions don't seem to allow arcs. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Randy

 

[loosemoose]

You might want to check out the design rules.
there is an option for height restriction.

see altium document
AR0111 Specifying the PCB Design Rules and Resolving Violations.PDF

 

[Anonymous_Ricky]

Go to design>>room>>Place Polyogonal Room .
There you can select the desired shape while drawinf the room. You can toggle between Lines and Arcs by pressing Shift+space while drawing.