Drill Table

Modified by Susan Riege on Aug 15, 2018
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Drill Table (Object)

Parent page: PCB Dialogs

The Drill Table dialog

Summary

The Drill Table dialog is used to configure a Drill Table object. A drill table, also known as a drill drawing legend, is a standard element required for manufacture of a Printed Circuit Board. The drill table lists the size and number of holes for each drill used on the board. The drill table updates in real time meaning as hole-containing objects, such as pads and vias, are placed or removed from the PCB design, the table updates.

Access

The dialog can be accessed during placement:

  • By pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in the following ways:

  • Double-click on the drill table object.
  • Place the cursor over the object, right-click then choose Properties from the context menu.

Options/Controls

Grid Area

The drill table displays detailed information for each symbol type. It can be customized including:

  • Changing the column order - Click on a column header then drag to change the order of columns.
  • Change a column header - Select the column then click the Change header button or right-click in the column then select Change column header from the menu.
  • Hide a column - Select the column then click the Remove Column button or right-click then select Remove column from the menu.
  • Show a column - Click the Add Column button then select the required column or right-click then select the relevant Add column menu entry.
  • Add a custom column - Click the Add Column button then select Custom column or right-click and select the Add column » Custom column menu entry. Both the header and the values are user-defined in a custom column.

To sort the drill table, click once on a column heading to sort by that column. A small triangle will appear indicating the current sort direction; click a second time to reverse the sort direction. Multi-level sorting is also supported by holding the Shift key as you click to sub-sort by a second (or third) column. 

Layer Pairs to Preview

The drill table supports multi-layer boards that use layer-pair drilling. To support you in using the drill table during the design process, the table includes the Layer pairs to preview option. Set this to restrict the table to only show the drill holes for just the selected layer-pair. 

The Layer pairs to preview option is not used to control which layer-pair drilling is included in the drill table during output generation; that is defined by the Drill Layers setting in the Layer Properties dialog in the output setup. That means that a single table can be placed on the design and the table will include only the appropriate layer-pair data during output generation of a drill drawing of that layer-pair.

Alignment

The table can be built from the bottom-up, Alignment = Bottom, or from the top-down, Alignment = Top. Use this setting to allow for table size changes without impacting surrounding objects in the workspace.

Display Options

  • Location X - Current X location of the drill table reference point. The reference point is the bottom left corner if Alignment = Bottom, or top left corner if Alignment = Top.
  • Location Y - Current Y location of the drill table reference point. The reference point is the bottom left corner if Alignment = Bottom, or top left corner if Alignment = Top.
  • Rotation - Angle in degrees that the the drill table is rotated.
  • Table Border Width - Width of the lines used to create the table border.
  • Text Height - Height of the text used in the drill table.
  • Text Width - Stroke width of the text used in the drill table. This option is available only if the Font Kind is set to Stroke.

Units

  • Imperial / Metric - Set the Units to be either Metric or Imperial.
  • Precision - Set the required precision (number of digits after the decimal point) for each type of Units.
  • Add secondary units - Enabling this displays each numerical value in both Unit types with the secondary units enclosed in brackets.
To toggle the units of measurement used in the open dialog between metric (mm) and imperial (mil), press the Ctrl+Q shortcut. This affects the dialog only and does not change the actual measurement unit currently employed for the board as determined by the Home | Grids and Units | Metric or Imperial setting chosen on the Ribbon.

Draw Symbols

Each hole size can be represented by one of the following drawing symbols:

  • Show Symbols - Draw a small geometric symbol at the location of each drill site. Note that a symbol is automatically chosen for each hole size, up to a total of 15 different sizes. These symbols tend to be open in their design. If a hole center marker is required, include the Drill Guide layer in the output generation. If required, each Symbol can be replaced by a letter. This is done in the PCB Hole Size Editor as described below.
  • Show Hole Size - Draw the numerical size of the hole at the location of each drill site. Enable this option to show the hole size in drill table.

Controlling the Assignment of Symbols or Characters

When Symbols are chosen, the software automatically assigns a symbol for each hole size. This automatic assignment can be overridden, if required, in the PCB Hole Size Editor. To display the PCB Hole Size Editor, select it in the drop-down at the top of the PCB panel. Click on a Symbol in the Hole Size Editor to display the Symbol Selection dialog and change the style of that Symbol or choose a Letter (Character) instead.

Font Kind

  • Stroke - select to use Stroke fonts.
  • TrueType -  select to use fonts available on your PC (in the \Windows\Fonts folder). TrueType fonts offer full Unicode support. 

Select TrueType Font

This field is available only if TrueType is selected in the Font Kind field above.
  • Font Name - use this field to choose the required TrueType font. The drop-down list is populated with TrueType and OpenType (a superset of TrueType) fonts found in the \Windows\Fonts folder. Note, the list will only include entries for detected (and uniquely named) root fonts. For example, Arial and Arial Black will be listed but Arial Bold, Arial Bold Italic, etc., will not. Use the Bold and Italic options to add emphasis to the text.
  • Bold - enable this option to make the dimension text bold.
  • Italic - enable this option to make the dimension text italic.
By default, the software links to a used TrueType font (they are not stored in the PCB file), which means the same font must be present on each PC to which the design is moved.

Select Stroke Font

This field is available only if Stroke is selected in the Font Kind field above.
  • Font Name - use the drop-down to select the desired Stroke font. Choices are:
    • Default - a simple vector font designed for pen plotting and vector photo plotting.
    • Sans Serif - a complex font that will slow down vector output generation, such as Gerber.
    • Serif - a complex font that will slow down vector output generation, such as Gerber.
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