For some reason, I am having a lot of trouble designing this PCB. It’s the most complicated design I’ve ever done, but it’s not that bad. All through hole. It’s a custom Arduino mega shield. The problem I am having is that when I go to calculate the airwires (ratsnest) the whole top layer turns red and the bottom blue. I’m not sure if that means my layout is bad and that it’s unable to finish or what. Either way could someone help me, like take a look at the files (I included a dl link), because I am really lost. The circuit just gets raw input from a transformer, rectifies and regulates it, powers the arduino and routes lots of connections to digital pins from external components that will be connected with jumpers.
DL files: http://iwowprogramming.net/dl/shield.zip
Virus Scan: http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/rep … 1304654618
Without looking at your files (usually I just want to look at a jpeg) I’m pretty sure you have top and bottom polygons set. If they are named appropriately, GND for example, you will see them isolate away from any component pins and also connect to any pins connected to the same net. If you haven’t actually run any traces yet, then all the rest of the space will be filled with copper. Just try running some traces, you should see the planes isolate away from the traces.
insignia96:
For some reason, I am having a lot of trouble designing this PCB. It’s the most complicated design I’ve ever done, but it’s not that bad. All through hole. It’s a custom Arduino mega shield. The problem I am having is that when I go to calculate the airwires (ratsnest) the whole top layer turns red and the bottom blue. I’m not sure if that means my layout is bad and that it’s unable to finish or what. Either way could someone help me, like take a look at the files (I included a dl link), because I am really lost. The circuit just gets raw input from a transformer, rectifies and regulates it, powers the arduino and routes lots of connections to digital pins from external components that will be connected with jumpers.
DL files: http://iwowprogramming.net/dl/shield.zip
The "whole top layer turns red" because you have created a copper pour named ground. The same is true for the bottom layer. Both of these are OK. However, you have -91- ERC warnings for the schematic. Most of these are because you've overlapped pins when connecting to the various connector. ERC also complains that many connector pins are not connected to anything. If that's the way you want it, then don't connect a NET to those unused pins. Did you notice that the emitter of the transistor is not connected at all? These problems NEED TO BE FIXED. On the PCB, IC1 overlaps with several resistors and connectors. You have a large usable area on the right side of the board shaped like a sideways "U", and parts crammed together on the left side of the board. It seems to me that you could place most of your parts in the "U" area.
good luck 
Thanks, the main reason everything is so crowded is because I wanted to make sure that there would be enough space, just in case. Also, most of the connections were made by someone else, I dl’ed the template for this from the forums here. However, I will most likely be redesigning this anyways, I will probably not be needing an onboard powersupply, and that will take alot of the complications out of this board. Thanks again!