How to Create Custom holes in PCB Board design 

Hi, I have been developing a simple PCB board which contains a PIR sensor, an LDR and some other discrete components along with MSP430G2231. I have done outlines for my board according to its dimension. Now, i would like to cut some part in middle of the board. Is it possible to do this, cos, i have seen some board in which part in middle of the board is cut. 

Can anyone help me with this?

Good morning,

    I use the board geometry/assembly layer to show the outline of the board panels along with areas to be routed out of the board.  For example I have a thermistor on the board and do not want any heat on the board getting to the thermistor so in the mentioned layer I give x,y cords for the fabrication house to route out certain areas.

An alternative method is to just draw it on Board Geometry  / Outline layer. You can include fillets or chamfers on the corners using Manufacture - Drafting - Fillet. You can use zcopy to add a route keepout,

You can also output this info as a ncroute file for the manufacturer. Take a look at :- http://www.parallel-systems.co.uk/images/PDF/slots_pcb_editor.pdf for more details.

Ya, i use Board Geometry / Outline option to represent outline of my board as well as the area needed to be cut.

My doubt is, will there be any confusion between my board outline and the unwanted area to be cut.? Cos, Both the things are mentioned using Board Geometry / Outline. 

Do i need to mention this to Fabrication house?

In the case when there is an irregular cutout inside of the Board Outline, which cannot be represented by a slotted padstack, I would define the cutout with lines on Board Geometry / Outline.  On the fabrication drawing, I would add large text inside of the cutout indicating that it is a cutout area. "CUTOUT AREA"   Almost all Fabrication houses will review the fabrication drawing in the early stages of fabrication and it would be clear at that point that there is a cutout.

I would also consider generating a NC Route file using a line on Board Geometry / Ncroute_Path and output the route file using Manufacturing > NC > NC Route... (Process is described in the PDF that Steve provided)

Hope this helps,
Mike Catrambone

     I should also mention I still use board geometry/outline to show the outline of the board for layout of the board, that way I can turn off the board geometry/assembly layer to unclutter the screen. 

     I show all the cutouts, scoring, panel layout and the outline on the board geometry/assembly.  One more note...the board house we use usually used a 3/32 router bit, so I usually draw the routes using a line width of 94mils and give them x,y cords.  This way it is a visual view of what they will be routing.

 Have a great weekend,

Ken

It might be that you are hovered over Pin1 and it highlights to show you that you are hovered over it or you may have applied a permanent highlight to it. Try using Display - dehighlight (make sure Pins, nets are selected in the find filter) and then click the pin with the left mouse button.

I tried to dehighlight the pin, but it dint work. Could you please explain what does "hovered over Pin" means? And how to eliminate it.

"hover over" - When you move your cursor over an object it may temporarily highlight depending on what objects you have turned on in the find filter.

You should create a new thread for your problem. It has nothing to do with the subject matter of this thread.