topic Re: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component? in Fusion Electronics Forum

Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

JetForMe — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 06:54:19 GMT

I'm making a very simple PCB to break out some pins from a 40-pin Raspberry Pi connector to some other connectors. To secure the board to the Pi, I want to put some screws through some holes to line up with the holes on the Pi. The 40-pin connector footprint also has to line up with the mating connector on the Pi.

What's the best approach to doing this? Can I do it all in PCB, or do I have to go to CAD Design? Can I start with a board outline in PCB, or do I have to make a body in Design first? I don't see a way to establish a joint or constraints between a hole and a component in Design (after pushing the PCB to 3D). And nowhere do I even see a place where I can type in precise coordinates for parts or holes.

BTW, the holes are not on a 0.1" grid. They are centered on the 40-pin header and 4.87 mm away from the end-most pins (this isn't actually a Pi, it's a Jetson Orin Nano dev kit, but the question applies to Pi also).

Betreff: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

m.neujahr_at_moe — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 09:37:49 GMT

Hello @JetForMe ,

for this you can use the function "Mark local Origin" to set a new origin:

After this, you can place any components to the "relative" coordinates:

Betreff: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

m.neujahr_at_moe — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 09:43:03 GMT

Hello @JetForMe ,

to place components to precise coordinates you can use the command line and enter the coordinates directly in brackets:

Normal origin: (1 1)

Relative origin: (R 1 1)

Re: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

jorge_garcia — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 18:22:00 GMT

Hi @JetForMe,

For this particular instance, you can download a Pi HAT template for EAGLE. These are useable within Fusion 360 as well so you can just use them as a base to build your design. See this link
https://github.com/cadsoftcomputer/Raspi-Plate-Demo

I built this close to 10 years ago, but the spec should still hold up.

Let me know if you run into problems.

Best Regards,

Re: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

JetForMe — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 02:45:39 GMT

I mentioned briefly at the end of my post, but it's not actually a Raspberry Pi. It’s a Jetson Orin Nano dev kit, which has a RPi-compatible 40-pin header, but the board has different dimensions.

Having said that, it might actually be the case that the mounting holes are in the same relative position as on the Pi. I'll check out your template.

Betreff: Basic question: how do I place a hole relative to a component?

JetForMe — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 03:04:52 GMT

@m.neujahr_at_moe wrote:
to place components to precise coordinates you can use the command line and enter the coordinates directly in brackets:
Normal origin: (1 1)
Relative origin: (R 1 1)

Okay, took a lot of fiddling, and following this answer, to move the hole. Honestly, this is a terrible UI. I thought, after so many years in the hands of Autodesk, Eagle would have improved, but this is really quite terrible. Hopefully I can get used to it.