How do I align components on a PCB?

[joe.burks]

I have a component that I want aligned to another component I have locked:

After clicking the align horizontal centers it looks like this:

The lower component has moved slightly, but doesn't appear to be centered. If I hit the center alignment button several times, the lower component moves a little bit each time until eventually they are aligned.

I then tried aligning the left edges and the bottom component did not move at all:

I then used the align to right edges, and the bottom component aligned as expected:

It seems like the align centers tried to split the difference but couldn't move the top component because it is locked so it only moved part of the way. The align left tried to move the top component only but couldn't because it is locked. The align right moved only the bottom component so the components aligned. The problem I'm having is that I am not discovering that my components are misaligned until after layout because on the PCB they are not so close to one another:

It wasn't until I exported the PCB and edited it in Eagle and then used the left alignment which did what I expected.

What is going on here? The "Align" tool isn't working like it did in Eagle, or similar to any other PCB tool I've used. I've got a bunch of layout to re-do and I'd like to use the tool properly.

[matt.berggren]

I would recommend instead, use the Move command, select the part you want to align and then while moving, Hold Shift.  This will reveal snap lines that’s we just added in the October update which should make this thing super easy!  I will investigate what’s going on and see whether the Lock is causing an issue.  

best regards,

matt

[joe.burks]

If that was added in October, was it maybe removed in November? When I hold shift during a move, it moves the footprint independent of the text elements and no snap lines show up. I've attached a video where shift doesn't bring up snap lines, it leaves the text elements behind and I cannot align the two components no matter how hard I try unless I turn the grid down to 0.1mm.

I'm not sure how this suggestion would help even if it did work. I need components that are spaced 90mm apart aligned within 1mm. I cannot do that visually. I'm working with ports whose spacing is dictated by the enclosure they are in and the size of the cables that plug into them. My tolerances are less than 1mm to fit all of the ports in. I positioned the top ports so that everything fit, locked them into position, and then used the align tool to position their corresponding bottom ports with the same spacing. Because the align tool is not working, the bottom ports visually looked correct but are not and the plugs will not fit.

This functionality works flawlessly in Eagle, but it doesn't look like I can keep the schematic and board files in sync if I want to do the PCB layout in the tool that works.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @joe.burks,

Thanks for highlighting this issue. I would recommend in the meantime that you use the inspector to match the x locations of both components exactly. I know it's a bit manual, but it's guaranteed to work.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,