Electronic – How to draw a PCB in Altium without schematic

altiumpcb

I'd like to make a PCB but I don't really need a schematic for it (it is just a prototyping board).

I can add components, pads – but I can't add traces (I can start the trace but I can not go to another pad – which is reasonable as there is no net created in schematic).

The second problem is that I can not multiply pads and components: Ctrl-C -> Ctrl-V is not working.

How can I do those things?

UPDATE

I find the way PCB editor doing the Copy-Paste:

  • I pick the component with the mouse
  • Press Ctrl-C (I can use context menu as well)
  • Then I need to pick a reference
  • After that I can press Ctrl-C and add the component easy

Actually this was described in the gray box in the upper left corner of the screen.

UPDATE 2

I tried different setting and I found that if I press TAB during manual routing I can choose "Ignore obstacles" mode which made me possible to connect the pins (I will just ignore the errors I will definitely get during DRC):

enter image description here

So I'd say that this is not the cleanest way to make the PCBs in general, but it looks OK for my project (a prototyping board).

Best Answer

Long story short: You'll be faster (and far less error prone) if you use a schematic

But if you still want to do it the hard way:

  • You have already placed your components, now add nets by clicking Design -> Netlist -> Edit Nets (add two nets for example, one GND and one +5V), then exit the dialog
  • Double click a pad of a component and you will now be able to assign the net
  • Double click a pad of a different component and assign the same net.
  • Altium should now draw a ghost line between those two pads, you can now use the Place -> Track tool to draw a track.
Related Topic