pcb-rnd knowledge pool

 

Setting up custom grid sizes

grid_custom by Tibor 'Igor2' Palinkas on 2019-05-26

Tags: howto, custom, grid, sizes, size

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Abstract: pcb-rnd offers a preconfigured set of grid sizes, including both mil and mm based. Keys [ and ] are provided for easily cycling through available grid sizes. A submenu lists all available sizes. These preconfigured grid sizes can easily be changed by the user.

  Available grid sizes is stored in a list in the config. The conf node is called editor/grids.

Changing grids with a text editor

The easiest way to change it is probably to creating an user config file that contains a list of your preferred grid sizes in an overwrite subtree (so it will override any stock config on grid sizes). Example: copy this config file to ~/.pcb-rnd/ and start pcb-rnd.

Changing grids with the GUI

Start pcb-rnd and open the preferences dialog (File menu, preferences), then

  1. select the config tree tab
  2. navigate to editor/grids in the left tree
  3. select the "user" role in the table on the right
  4. click the "edit selected" button -> list editor pops up
  5. use the "insert after" button to create new list elements
  6. close all the preferences dialogs when the list is finished

preferences dialog with grid sizes

If it doesn't exist, it will create the user config file (as ~/pcb-rnd/pcb-conf.lht) with the grids entered. If the config file already exists, it is overwritten (but other settings are kept) so the same method can be used to edit the grid list any time.

With the "user" role this will have effect on anything done with the same user. However, it is possible to narrow the scope and use a different role in step 3, e.g. to set up a project-specific grid (affecting only one project) or even a grid config that affects only a single board file (and saved in that board file). For more info, refer to the role specification of the conf system .