Routing layers separately

[Eric Haugen]

Hi Steve, Unfortunately, there is no way to control which layers Autoroute will route. It will try and connect everything that has ratsnest lines.

[Steve at Keck]

Can I autoroute one (or two) layers at a time? I would like to create a six layer board with circuits on the top and bottom and clock signals in between two plane layers. This would be a lot easier if I could autoroute.

[Sal Hernandez]

You do have some control over the auto router. Go to View > User Preferences > Routing and Spacing Rules. Change the settings in the Autorouter layer bias to avoid using specific layers. You can't avoid routing on the outer layers with surface mount parts but with a mainly through hole board it works pretty well. You may still get a few traces on layers with Do not use selected as the layer bias, but not nearly the number you would get without the setting. Any time you make changes in the User Preferences make sure to select Apply then OK to save the changes. It does matter.