I’ve been on KiCAD for a day now and while I’m making headway, the different versions are screwing up my learning curve. I am making a very specific project: a light ring, for use with my OctoPrint with camera that controls my Tevo Tornado 3D printer.
I initially created this project around WS2812, but now I want to use plain white LEDs to illuminate the project as it prints. So I created two concentric rings, sized them, populated them with the correct footprints, added tracks and now I’m stuck. How do I make the “ring” solid? It’s a super simple design, so I didn’t make a schematic. I also have two “holes” which I need to figure out how to size correctly. Here’s what I have so far:
Your outline must be on the Edge.Cuts layer.
Otherwise there will be not board visible in the 3D viewer.
As for holes, just place a couple of connector pins accordingly.
Whoa @jos: that was awesome. I went to properties on the two circles and changed them to “Edge Cut”. They are now yellow. I’m still not seeing the “board” yet.
The rest is largly over to you. You might want to check with the pcb house if all is well.
In any case they check the design if it can be manufactured. If there are issues they will let you know.
It’s mostly optics though I can see tracks a bit wider and perhaps a bit more roundish flowing with the shape. Those two connecter pads a bit more solid/larger for hand soldering wires etc.
Thanks to @jos’s suggestion about cleaning up the lines, I played around with it and refined it completely. The copper is 0.6mm wide and everything is aligned (albeit imperfectly) around the center of the ring. I still haven’t figured out how to make the terminal soldering pads for power larger, so any help there would be appreciated. I definitely like the look!!!
@hermit and @Rene_Poschl, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Thanks so much. I went over to the HackerSpace this afternoon to be tutored a bit, but he was using KiCAD 4, not 5. It was a bit confusing, to say the least, but I learned a lot. Skipping the Schematic was not a good thing.
One thing we could not figure out, was how to link a footprint to a symbol. It’s so easy to do it under Schema in 4, but I just can’t figure it out in 5. Any clues???
If you get rid of those two Ref** markers it would be even nicer. Uncheck the ‘show’ check box in the pin’s properties settings.
To perfect it even more drag that +5V pin with the G command so it ends up at 90⁰ to the circle itself. Just draw a free line as a guide perhaps on the Dwgs.User layer from dead centre of the circle into position. Then align the pin with its track parallel to it.
