Board has malformed outline (no edges found on edge.cut layer)

[dlayh]

Hi everyone,

the DRC throws an error saying that my board has a malformed outline and that no edges can be found on the edge.cuts layer.
The arrow points somewhere in the middle of my edge cuts zone.

However I did create a rectangular zone in the edge.cuts layer:

I also made sure none of the zones on my board overlap with the edge.cuts zone anywhere on the design.

Does anyone know what the cause of this error could be ?

[mf_ibfeew]

outline is not drawn as zone.
Outline should consist of:

1. combined single items (lines + arcs) forming a closed outline-shape. Every item must exactly start at the endpoint from the last item
2. one single item: rectangle/circle
3. polyline forming a closed polygon

As first try draw only a rectangle (and nothing else) on the edge.cuts layer to get a feeling for the outline-requirements and outline-behaviour.

[dlayh]

Ah thanks a lot, you were right. Just a regular rectangle did the trick!

[Aclassifier]

Same problem here, but I did draw it as a single rectangle in the first place:

I am throwing in my full project (I will later publish it in a blog note anyhow (disclaimer, no ads no income from my blogs, only fun and expenses. Also, I sell nothing of what I make and describe in them)). I am so new to this, that some advice might come in very handy!

Beep_BRRR-2022-03-22_104557.zip (207.3 KB)

Edit:

If my layout looks strange, I am trying to make it into some sort of breadboard, even if I know from How to implement a breadboard in KiCad that it’s probably not such a good idea. But then, KiCad looks more tempting than fritzing.

By the way, I also added mounting holes where they should be (according to Universal Proto-Board PCBs 5cm x 7cm, but the DRC complained so much that I removed them. I think it was the copper fields aound the 2.2 mm holes.

Edit 2:

I discovered the arcs and lines in the USB Micro. I tried to move it to the edge of the board as it said (with fine grid), but it still complained.

[maui]

@Aclassifier

I discovered the arcs and lines in the USB Micro. I tried to move it to the edge of the board as it said (with fine grid), but it still complained.

in this case you need to create a pcb edge without using a (polyline) rectangle, but using simple lines to be connected to the USB edge cuts.
Beep_BRRR-wEC.kicad_pcb (174.2 KB)

[Aclassifier]

Thanks @maui, I’ll do it this afternoon and then update here. Edit: Thanks 2! You did it!

[Aclassifier]

I have now changed the footprint of as much as possible to 0.1" grid. Even the IRLU2905 which has a TO-251 footprint. But I know it’s easy to solder them on standard breadboards.

I have tried to center the edge cut, but everything I can figure out makes the DRC think it’s not closed again. Is there a smart way to do this? I wasn’t able to grab more than one element. The hole cut needs to be sent 0.52 mm down, but I lost it on the USB, even if I moved it also down 0.52 mm. Then I tried to connect the segments and they seemed to connect. But DRC didn’t like it.

Beep_BRRR-2022-03-22_170000.zip (76.9 KB)

Update: I decided to go for USB breakout boards since I’m making a breadboard layout only. I then made a new edge cut “clean” rectangle with lines, with 0.500 mm grid, so it was fast done to center it by hand.

Thanks for the help!

[Jonathan_Haas]

For the future: If you don’t need or don’t want to use the edge cuts in the footprint, simply create a local copy of the footprint in your own library and delete the edge cut lines there (or move them to another layer as reference). And then use your copy of the footprint obviously.

[Aclassifier]

Thanks, @Jonathan_Haas!