Single layer boards 

Has anyone done anything with single layer flexible cirtuit boards?

I am having trouble finding out how to define the cross section for only one layer. The layout cross section window says I can't delete either the TOP layer or the BOTTOM layer.

The board I am designing has pads on both sides of a single layer of conductive material.

Any help would be appreciated.

The tool does require you to have at least the two layers in your design. This is because it assumes that you would need different layers to represent the top versus the bottom side of the physical substrate.

You stated that your design has pads on both the top and bottom sides of the layer. Assuming your conductor traces are on a layer "M1", what layer would the top and bottom pads go on, relative to M1? Would these need to be on separate layers so that the tool can effectively DRC the bottom pads against each other and separate from the top pads?

Based on that, we might be able to offer some reasonable solution(s) that will be understood by the other parts of the system.

"pads on both sides of a single layer" is a bit confusing.

Do you have component pads and routing only on one layer (top)?

If yes, consider a two layer board and send only the top layer GBR.

If you have at least a via, it is a two layer board.

I think that helps me understand some, yes, though I apologize if I have misinterpreted.

Are you therefore trying to place J1 and J2 (the comps on the outside with pads on the bottom) mirrored on the board, so that their soldermask pads are correctly on the bottom side? This would cause their conductor pads to be on the wrong layer, as they get mirrored to the bottom layer from the top. Therefore, removing that extra conductor would make the pads stay on the correct conductor layer? 

If that is the case, you have two solutions to get the pads on the correct side. You can either edit the pad definitions for these components, so that their unmirrored pad is on the bottom layer (which will then, placed mirrored, put it on the top layer) or you can mirror these with the edit->mirror command in mirror geometry mode and update the soldermask layer pads in the their padstack definition to be on the bottom soldermask layer.

Should you so desire, you could set the material thickness of the unused dielectric and conductor layer to 0, just so that the overall thickness of the design is more accurate. 

I fear my communication skills suffer when I get frustrated. And this board is driving me nuts!

I think I'll try mirroring the soldermask only and see what kind of fits I can give the DRC.

Thanks!

PCB Editor choked on it and kicks me out everytime I try to mirror just the soldermask!

Any other thought\ideas?

Are you trying to edit the soldermask directly? Or are you editing the padstack definition's soldermask pad (tools->padstack->modify design padstack)? If the soldermask is part of the padstack, you must edit it through this interface; you cannot directly edit it within the database as a shape. 

Sorry; this is one of those problems where being able to see the actual database is usually helpful to guide someone in the right direction. 

I tried to update the padstack then update to the design and that's when it chokes.

I suppose, since it only for testing purposes, I could email it to you.

I'll send you an email through here with my contact info.