Convert Multilayer Pads To Single Layer ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2013, 05:09:54 am
content: It's Friday and I must be missing the obvious with this one. I have a board design that only has tracks on the bottom layer, but the component pads are multilayer.How can I change all of the pads to be bottom layer only? Editing them pad by pad works, but using "find similar objects" (object kind: pad: same) and editing them globally sees the pads disappear totally!

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2013, 06:52:04 am
content: This works for me.1) Shift select all the pads to change and double click on the last one(or you can use the find similar objects method if you want.)2) You should now have the PCB inspector window showing so you can update all selected components at once.3) Change the 'Stack mode' to 'top-middle-bottom'4) Set the layers you don't want pads to zero.(eg, if you want only a bottom pad set middle and top layers to zero x and zero y)5) Untick 'plated'Done.You maybe falling into the trap of trying to change the layer from "multilayer" to "bottom layer" on pads which have holes. (Altium doesn't like that. If it has a hole then it has to be multilayer since the hole is on both sides)

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2013, 07:12:23 am
content: Yes, I was simply changing the layer type with a bad result.Is there an easy way to select every pad on a board so I can do the edit you explained?EDIT: I can select all the pads, but something still not right in the editing. Time to go home but will try on the weekend.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2013, 12:32:02 am
content: You can Shift Select every pad and doubleclick the last one.Or use the find similar objects toolEither should work.But you must only have pads selected. If any other components are selected then options will disappear from the list.You can also get issues when you have pads selected that have different options enabled.For example, if pad A has an option disabled and that option would bring up other options if it was enabled then you may not get those options if you multiselect it together with other pads that have it enabled already.(You may have to first unlock the primitives if you're trying to do pads that are part of existing components).

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2013, 02:10:11 am
content: Hold CTRL while dragging a select box. This lets you select primitives inside components (designators, pads, etc)

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2013, 04:37:16 am
content: OK, I was actually getting the right result but since the pads are still "multilayer", the rendering in 2D mode didn't change. I had a look in 3D mode and sure enough the top pads, etc are gone. Thanks guys.

author: brownt
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2017, 09:02:14 pm
content: although this worked. The routing is all mucked up with tracks passing over pads on the opposite of the board and routing occuring on both sides of the board. why would that be?