I am relatively new to CS, so I must be missing something here. I then decided to make a 2nd Clearance Rule, but the 'Where The First Object Matches' rule dialog does not include an option to select Pad Class like the Power Plane Clearance does. Unfortunately this did not work as my default Clearance rule of 0.2mm was maintained after repour.

Since all 5 pads are the same size and unique to all other pads in my design, I created a Pad Class to include these pads and increased the Clearance. So I turned focus to creating a 2nd Power Plane Clearance Rule. I originally looked at adding a keepout to this layer, but this will not work as a keepout over the pads obviously creates DR violations. I added a Polygon Pour Plane (Gnd) to the same layer and would like to increase the pad to poly clearance around the pads to more than my default clearance of 0.2mm to prevent the pogo's from shorting to the plane with an unsteady hand - without having to increase the overall 0.2mm clearance for all the other components on the layer. I believe if you lock the part, then an update from libraries should not move it on the board.I have a line of pads I use for In Circuit Serial Programming for micro's that are spaced 2.54mm apart for use with a pogo pins/test probes fixture. Of course, you could always reset the part in the library after you finish with placement. This option is less ideal, as it will affect anyone else using the part, and will of course persist into the next design, where the mechanical engineer may well give you a different datum to work from. When you save and update the PCB part from library, you can then use the new part origin for your placement. The other option is that you could edit the footprint of the part, and in the editor you could set the origin manually to be one of the mechanical pins.

I wouldn't measure though, just take the info from the data sheet. You can do the method of working out the offset from one of the mechanical pins to the centre, and then using that to guide your XY placement, as you suggest.

Connectors are always a bit of a pet peeve of mine, largely for the reason that so many people want to use so many different things as origin - pin 1, body centre, mechanical pins.īy my reckoning, there's two options.

Altium measure distance