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Why? It’s not always the most accurate, and if you’re a fan of symmetry, then your autorouter will most likely disappoint. Outside of these three reasons, we’d recommend not relying on your autorouting to complete all of the routing on your board layout. A quick run through the autorouter might show you a new path that you hadn’t considered before.
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Lastly, you can use the autorouter as a source of inspiration for how you might want to route some traces that you just can’t complete.
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You can also use the autorouter to discover bottlenecks and other critical connection points that you might not have seen during your component placement process. If it’s below 85%, then this is an indication that you need to make some adjustments to your part placement. You can use the autorouter after you place all of your components to see what completion rating you get. But wait! Autorouters, as good as they can be, are never a replacement for routing yourself, and should only be used for a few reasons, including: There’s a tool tucked into nearly every PCB design software out there called the autorouter, and as a beginner, your eyes might light up thinking this is an easy way to solve your routing problems. Use these top 10 PCB routing tips and also our top 10 component placement tips to make your first PCB layout a success. If this is your first time doing a PCB layout, then seeing a chaotic looking ratsnest might be a little intimidating. It’s simply a matter of how much time you spend on each activity. This is still true today, and the placement of your components will end up deciding how much time your routing will take, but that doesn’t mean that routing your PCB is any less important. There’s an old saying that goes something like this – PCB design is 90% placement and 10% routing. The Top 10 PCB Routing Tips for the Beginner The Top 10 PCB Routing Tips for Beginners
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