How to view/delete stitching vias?

[wayneweeks]

Hi,

I am trying to add stitching vias to a PCB. I added them once then thought I deleted them as they no longer show up in the layout. However, when I try to add the stitching vias again I get an error...

Error: Via stitching conflicts with existing stitches on the board. Adjust the stitching area to prevent overlap.

So it appears those previous stitching vias may still be there somewhere? But how to view/delete/edit previously added stitching? I don't see a layer for it, nor anything else in the design manager that would indicate the stitching is still there.

Thank you for any help.

[RichardHammerl]

Hi @wayneweeks ,

first question: Do you have layer 18 Vias active? If it is not displayed, you won't see the vias and the stitch contour.

If you do not see the via stitch, you could use the Design Manager panel to locate it. 

In the Design Manager's browser tab, chose Signals view, select the net class and the signal that might have the via stitch. In the items list you will see an stitch icon. Select it and a pointer will show you in the layout. 

Now you could delete the stitch as a whole by clicking the contour of the array with Shift + DELETE.

As an alternative you could use the Selection filter. Chose Via Stitching and draw a rectangle all over the board area. All stitches can be deleted now. 

Just let me add another way to locate stitches: You could use the Design Manager's Filter funtion as well. 

In the image below I selectes the Filter tab and search for an object type Via Stitching. 

I found a stitch in the GND signal.....  🙂 

I hope this helps. 

[wayneweeks]

Hi RichardHammerl

Thank you, I was able to find the stitching vias through the Design Manager. Previously I was looking for 'Vias' and ' Stitching', not 'ViaStitching'...😀

However, now there is another issue. I have a through hole capacitor that is connected to a plane on layer 5. See orange plane in picture, with + terminal of that capacitor and the thermal. If I just run the Via Stitching command the capacitor connection to plane 5 is removed. Why is that? That doesn't seem right. See second picture.

[Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele]

Hi @wayneweeks some team members have investigated what you are seeing and were able to find the root cause & fix for the issue. We're very sorry for this & hope to provide a fix for you soon! 

[wayneweeks]

Thanks @Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele for the quick response. When you say 'provide a fix soon', are we talking a fix or workaround today? Or do I need to do the via stitch manually? Just trying to get an idea of the timeline.

[Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele]

Sorry for the confusion. We are working on the fix but it will take a bit until we have tested & shipped this code. Probably it will be part of our May release.

Until that you might have to resort back to manual stitching or make up the stitch region from individual stitches working around the connection. 

Sorry for the inconvenience 

[wayneweeks]

Hi @Pieter.Jan.Van.de.Maele 

There is another issue with the Via Stitching. I tried using the Via Stitch tool and drawing out areas to stitch and avoiding the TH capacitor that gets un-routed, works as expected. But, now there are lots of orphaned copper areas that get put there by the Via Stitch tool. Toggling the Orphans button in the plane properties didn't help.

See pictures. Looks like there is more testing required for this stitch tool.

For now seems like the only way be sure stitching is correct is to do it manually.

[eric.fanD2UQM]

> now there are lots of orphaned copper areas that get put there by the Via Stitch tool

Placing more vias will likely create more copper pour "islands." But it should not affect if those islands are displayed. Do those "islands" disappear if you delete the via stitch? On the other front, the Orphans checkbox will have no effect if there is nothing connected to it. Would that happen to be the case? If not, it would really help if you could share the board with us.

[panpan_fan]

Hi @wayneweeks 

We have released Fusion V2.0.19207
The via stitching thermals disappearing issue you reported should be fixed now.
Please upgrade Fusion and try it again, thanks a lot!

Regards,

Panpan Fan