Hi All,
I am trying to learn KiCad (version 5.1.9) and have a small problem. My test project is a ring of RGB LEDs which are placed on arbitrary X,Y coodinates with varying rotation (for the esthetics) and I’m trying to track from LED to LED but I can’t stop the track from snapping to a grid point.
I have turned off “Preferences->Preferences->PcbNew->Limit tracks to H, V and 45 degrees”, I have also tried the 3 “Magnetic Points” options but although the start of the track snaps to the middle of the start component pad, it then insists on putting in a “dogleg” via the nearest grid point before snapping to the centre of the end component pad.
Your description is relatively clear, but it is much less clear to me what where your “problem” might be.
If you hold down the **[Alt] key, then the grid is ignored and you can lay down tracks on pixel accuracy.
(On Linux this interferes with the “Alt + LMB” which is a general key combination to move any window of any program around the desktop. (Which is very handy sometimes, especially if the title bar is “off screen” and you can’t grab a window any other way. [Ctrl + Alt] works for me on Linux).
Just above that section of the preferences window, it says that those options are only: Legacy Toolset Routing Options
The “Legacy Toolset” has been removed from my Linux version of KiCad years ago, and is likely to be phased out completely “soon”, and those options disappearing completely with it.
If you want a straight track from point A to point B, then the place to change the settings are in the Interactive Router: Pcbnew / Route / Interactive Router Settings. Then:
Set the Mode to Highlight Collisions
This enables (Un-Grey’s) the option: Free angle mode (no shove / walkaround) Select that option.
Changing the Interactive Router from “Shove” to any other mode is generally not recommended. The Shove mode is very powerful, and it can push tracks and via’s aside to make room for another track. This has been a great help to me in routing dense boards that I would not have even dared to attempt without that function. It does take a bit of adjustment to work effectively with the Interactive Router. It completely relies on your design rules for clearance being correct, and after a while you start relying on it completely and also stop worrying about where your tracks end up precicely, because the Interactive Router is very likely to change their locations later anyway. This may sound alarming at first, but it really is a good thing. It just needs some mental adjustment.
[quote=“PhilipJ451, post:1, topic:28026”]
I have also tried the 3 “Magnetic Points” options but although the start of the track snaps to the middle of the start component pad,
[/quote] Indeed. That is what those magnetic points do. They are only for the endpoints of the tracks and do not influence the rest of the routing.
