Hi all,
I want to include in my PCB an Arduino Nano 33 BLE, directly solder it to the PCB, is there an existing footprint with big enough pads to do this? Looked for a couple of hours and found nothing…
What’s the difference (concerning KiCad) between an Arduino Nano 33 BLE and a “regular” arduino nano?
If you’ve installed the default templates, then you can start with: KiCad Project Manager / File / New Project from Template / System Templates / Arduino Nano
Castellated Pads - regular Nano does not have them
You should make one yourself with SMD pads. I did this for an aliexpress buck converter with 4 castellated holes.
Where do you find those things anyways? I was looking for one today, but the prices… 
On Amazon and at Arduino’s store…
I started making a Footprint but decided to wait until I use up my inventory of older Nano’s (about 30 of them)… (got hung up when Renumbering as each castellated pad consists of Two THT and One SMD. Yes, was able to change/renumber but not intuitive as I could do that only in the Footprint, not on the PCB).
I may get around to finishing it… when I identify the correct/similar USB footprint…
EDIT: Deleted previous screenshot, Added screenshot of ≈finished Footprint with 3D-step
It’s an acceptable STEP file good enough for ‘my’ graphic needs and posted below…
Nano_BLE_v1r0.step (607.4 KB)
Bought them at Arduino Store, its still more expensive but you get more speed and memory. You can also find them at Elektor Store.
Thats not a footprint, thats a 3D model of the Arduino itself. You can find a nice one here.
The footprint is what you have in your PCB so you can solder the Arduino into it.
The Black part of the screenshot is the PCB with the Footprint. I did NOT intend to make a detailed Footprint as it’s not important to me. I provided the STEP so you would have a 3D model to assign to your Footprint.
You can include Large Pads in your Footprint - easy to do… And, as shown (with added SMD pads in Footrpint. Could have chosen to not put SMD pads on the Footprint but, rather, put them on the PCB… depends on time of Day and if Coffee is hot enough…)
I wanted a solution with both types of pads, keep the round ones from the original arduino footprint and add some copper rectangles, but can’t make it work… KiCad doesn’t let me connect the track to the copper rectangle I added to the pads… going to attach my footprint here if someone can make it work… for net A0 I changed the rectangle from f.cu to f.mask but in this case the PCB doesn’t have copper in the rectangle… verified with Gerber Viewer…
the symbol I’m using is the original one from KiCad named Arduino_Nano_v2.x
ok, managed to make it work! here it is in attach to this message
Arduino_Nano_pads.kicad_mod (18.8 KB)
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