this is my first post here.
I am pretty new to KiCad and had only newbie-level when I switched from a very clumsy Eagle to KiCad.
After having read tons of material to get a little bit of understanding my first project has been (almost) successfully completed. My feedback: I am convinced to stay with KiCad.
The project, I am working on, comes with an Arduino Nano, some standard devices and connectors plus stepper motor drivers. I was lucky to find eventually a 3D model of the Nano, which is quite ok looking, although I found another brilliant one, but this is only available as Solidworks format and I have no idea and no time to get it converted into KiCadās format. The current Nano is ok to get a better idea of my pcb and its components and how well I have designed the locations and spaces between the devices.
What I am still looking for, is a 3D model of either a drv8825 breakout board (e.g. those offered by Pololu) or a breakout board of Brian Schmalzās Big Easy Driver.
As I donāt know yet if I will go with the drv8825 or the big easy driver I designed my pcb such that it can carry both of them in parallel, so I am free to decide or to switch.
To make a long story short: I would very much appreciate if I could find the 3D models of these drivers to complete the 3D view of my project.
If someone has the skills, the time and the willingness to produce a better 3D model out of the SolidWorks based 3D model of an Arduino Nano: I can provide either the source or the file itself.
Before I forget it, I am very grateful for this amazing piece of software and for everybody supporting it. Hope that over time the non-intuitive library issues could be overcome and streamlined into a better one plus that somebody finds a better solution (or even a solution at all) for the issue to identify the right footprint of a device.
Maybe the pros amongst this community have no problem with it, but for me as a newbie and maybe semi-pro - it takes tons of time searching/opening the footprint viewer etc. to find the right looking footprint for devices, especially for the thousands of connectors. If we could have somewhere a thumbnail featured library - that would be the āEaster and XMas on One dayā solution - at least for me.
You got the footprints for both? Iād need them, as I canāt find that kind of infoā¦
Big Easy Driver: http://www.schmalzhaus.com/BigEasyDriver/index.html (no footprint, just eagle files).
DRV8825: ā¦ canāt even find a āsourceā
I have a 'duino nano (v3) somewhere since I used it in some quick and dirty prototypes. Iāll dig it up and convert it. Do you want a STEP model or VRML - or both?
Iām also in the process of designing a dual stepper motor driver which can be controlled via USB or TTL Serial, but it will be a few more months before the prototypes have been fabricated/tested/debugged.
Generally if you have Eagle6+ files you can import the PCB into kicad then
use the IDF export + Mauriceās kicad StepUP to produce a STEP assembly.
I think you can also use Mauriceās tools to export that assembly as VRML
if you wish. If you donāt care about the fine details you can always export
an IDF assembly with component outlines; you can see an example of
such an assembly here:
The only positive side to using IDF only is that KiCad has all the tools
you need for manipulating the IDF files to produce VRML files which can
be fed back into KiCad (idf2vrml). The IDF tools are described in the
kicad documentation but Iām still fighting to make changes to the example
project files so that I can improve the documentation. If you really need an
MCAD assembly to give to a mechanical designer then your only current
option is to use kicad StepUP to export a STEP assembly.
Thanks for your information. I will give the Nano files a try and see if they are better than that what I have just now; it is just to get an idea, how my populated pcb will look like and if I have to rearrange some components to avoid collisions or so.
The 3D accuracy of a model isnāt that essential for me. But in the current case I produced a complex pcb, sent it to a manufacturer, and when the pcbs came back I realized some major issues which I could have avoided, if I would have had 3D models for all my components.
Thus I could have seen, that some of the parts were too close together and - ash on my head - when I created two major components I misaligned the pin rows such that they were 1,27mm too tight and the parts canāt be mounted at all. With some brutal efforts yes, but - I donāt like that at ll as it might be a source for future failure.
In this case it didnāt cost me that much, but as I know that I will use those components in the future, I am currently searching for the 3D models.
For the drv8825 I do have a stp-file plus some jpg in a ārenderingsā folder.
For the Nano I have a fantastic looking model, which consists of dozens of single files which can be loaded into SolidWorks or compatible Viewers; I managed to install a 14days trial version of their eDrawings professional which created a .easm file and a 45MB .stl file, but I have no clue to get that damned good looking part converted into VRML for KiCad.
Digging deeper in that 3D stuff, I get more and more lost and I donāt want to go further and lose my time.
So I will see, if your suggestions give me some quick results for the 3D model of the drv8825.
Will keep you updated.
Edit1:
Just tried to download the files of the google drive - need permissions.
As said in my previous posts, it would be nice if we could have a special location coming with this forum, where we could exchange / host some files (ok, I know: space); but other forums are able to manage that, why not here?
if you are not a new user you can upload files, but smaller than 4MB
the only other way is to link a public folder/file
than you should be able to open it in FreeCAD and export all in VRML for kicad
with kicad StepUp it is also possible to export the STEP and VRML of the full assembly pcb and parts to have a 3D mechanical model to be used in a multi boards project, for mechanical collisions and interference checking as in the following example (main board plus add-on daughterboard)
thanks for your reply.
I installed freecad on my linux system (daily build version) and could import .stp / .stl but no .easm or other SolidWorks files. As said in my first post - I am no 3D modeller/designer and it is not my intention to become one - takes too much time and there are other priorities for me.
Spent last 3 weeks in KiCad as a brand new user of pcb modelling software after having realized that Eagle is not my path to go and KiCad looked (and still does in spite of the library issues) very promising.
I was able to get my first complex pc job done and learnt a lot on my way. 3D could help me for identifying mounting collisions etc. and is nice, if you can provide your customer with a 3D preview.
In my case the components were/are still a bit tricky to find, as I donāt want to reinvent the wheel. I had to create some components from scratch (Nano, drv8825, BigEasyDrv) as I couldnāt neither the lib nor a footprint for them - Nano I found later when I had already created my own pieces (incl. the misalignment of the footprint ā¦).
My 3D model of the pcb with components mounted is only lacking the absence of a suitable motordriver (drv8825 and/or EasyBig Drv - as there are two locations on the pcb I would use both of them, one in spot1 and the other one in spot2).
Unfortunately I was not able:
a) to export the drv8825.stp to drv8825.vrml with freecad (it did export, but when loading into KiCad the object doesnāt show up
b) to find a BigEasyDrv 3D model anywhere in the web
@rpt007
if you can see it in FreeCAD then you can export it to VRML to be used in kicad
first of all ā¦ where did you get your STEP models?
would you mind to post a link?
Are they from a pseudo-free libraries? if so it is not possible to share the models, but the links would be fineā¦
You probably associate the 3D model to a kicad footprintā¦
then you can load the footprint in FreeCAD using kicad StepUp macro as in these videos
import your STEP model in FreeCAD and align it to your footprint with StepUp tools and export the VRML after having aligned it to the footprint
after that you should be able to load your 3D vrml in kicad Edit
you can convert Blender model to x3d and use it in kicadā¦
anyway not very useful for MCAD constrains check, I would stay on STEP models
If you have the Eagle brd, you can open it in kicad, save as kicad_pcb file, populate with the right 3D MCAD/VRML models, convert to STEP and VRML and use it as a daughter boardā¦ that would be IMO the best path to followā¦
moreover if you want to continue using kicad, you would need to learn also 3D and 3D MCAD modellingā¦ so the best is starting asap
You can use Mauriceās StepUP tools to export to VRML. More recently, but you will need to build the tool on Linux (easy if you already build KiCad on Linux), there is a STEP->VRML translator which doesnāt require FreeCAD, only the OCE library which FreeCAD also uses:
This was really only an experiment with using OCE for the 3D viewer plugins which have been developed for KiCad but I can add a few command-line switches to control rendering quality and whether the VRML output is hierarchical (could save disk space) or not (better chances of the legacy KiCad 3DViewer rendering it).
Donāt waste time with those āeasmā files - they are meant for collaboration with SolidWorks users but you canāt do much other than inspect some details of the model which the SolidWorks users has allowed you to see.
@rpt007
Did you get my message, didnāt the mail address work?
I really need the footprints at least for that Big Easy thing to get you something tangible.
If you can send me the other 3D files or links you got there for the DRV and the Nano I can see where they sit and what scales they have.
Last call
Hm, even the solder joints are there on that nano, what package did that model? Anyone knows?
@maui
The BigEasyDrv STL file is a single grey but at least loads in either Inventor or FreeCAD.
Canāt change face colors in Inventor though, nor do anything really with that file, doesnāt even let me project or measureā¦
The BLEND file does not work with my FreeCAD - āThe mesh data structure has some defectsā and Inventor doesnāt know that format.
At the end of the day, might be the easiest and fastest to just create a pcb in KiCAD with those dimensions, place the components and trough holes and use StepUp to create a STEP model of it.
Might even need to set up StepUp myself next couple of days as I have a use case where I need this kind of coordination between KiCAD and Inventorā¦ hehe.
the easiest is to get the Eagle files here https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Robotics/BigEasyDriver_v16.zip
open the Eagle board BigEasyDriver.brd in kicad and export in BigEasyDriver.kicad_pcb
populate it with the right 3D MCAD/VRML models, convert to STEP and VRML with StepUp and use it as a daughter board
for the drv8225 I found only the dxf file with dimensions and drills https://www.pololu.com/file/0J898/md20b-drill.dxf
from which is possible to build the pcb, but it seems that @rpt007 has found the STEP file
then @rpt007 could just export it to STEP and complete the process to export in VRML from FreeCAD
or maybe @cbernardo would make his previous links public (they need an authorization to be downloaded)
note:[quote=āJoan_Sparky, post:10, topic:2541ā]
The BLEND file does not work with my FreeCAD - āThe mesh data structure has some defectsā and Inventor doesnāt know that format.
[/quote] @Joan_Sparky you need to open it in Blender and export it to x3d (but not very useful for MCAD integration)
@Joan_Sparkey:
no, I didānt forget you; I had some priorities to go after
In the attached archive you will find all my schematics, footprints and 3D models (for BigEasyDrv and drv8825) - the 3D models still to be converted to be used in KiCad: Archiv.zip (1.6 MB)
Pls let me know if that is what you were looking for.
@cbernardo & @maui:
Thanks for all your efforts to get me on the 3D horse
But I do have more priority on the current pcb and software development (which is not yet fully complete) than on 3D - at least at the moment.
Below pls find the links
to the Arduino Nano 3D model(s) and the drv8825 3D model.
So, if you can give it a try and come back with a vrml-file which could be integrated into my project, that would be fantastic.
Hope that I can find the time when the software is completed and learn how to do it eventually on my own.
I see those 3D models are coming from pseudo-free libraries ā¦ so any of those, nor any derivative can be shared because of their licenseā¦ I think you need to do some homework
that the VRML coming from FreeCAD and exported with StepUp
but you cannot share with anyone http://www.3dcontentcentral.com/Terms-of-use.aspx You may use Data for internal computer-aided design use only. You may not (i) distribute Data as part of any service, (ii) copy or post any Data on any Internet site without permission of the owner of the Data, (iii) broadcast Data via any media, or (iv) use the Data in a manner that is competitive with the 3D ContentCentral service.
moreover very often vrml models are not readable by kicad legacy 3d-viewer, or they are just not on the right orientation or scale etc.
so you will have to do a bit of homework
as I suggested the best is from STEP model to VRML
but at least loads in either Inventor or FreeCAD.
