I’m trying to create a PCB that allows me to attach SMDs and have their connections routed to pins of my choosing so that I can, in essence, attach several SMDs to a breadboard via the “adaptor” I’m creating.
I’ve decided on the board dimensions and laid out 36x 1.5mm pads with 0.7mm holes per the attached screenshot. The bits labelled A1-A18 & B1-B18 are what I’m wanting to see, but I’m also getting a plethora of “REF” labels and the yellow/purple symbols with a “+” in the middle - in addition to the “Test_Point” label at the bottom.
All of the extra stuff is making a mess of the board.
Can they be turned off? Am I on the right track here, or am I approaching this in a bad way?
There are many different ways to do things like this in KiCad. The simplest is to just turn off the silkscreen layers (From the layer manager on the right side of the screen).
You can also hide features of footprints you don’t like (For example with: PCB Editor / Edit / Edit Text & Graphics Properties) or create a custom footprint that has these features hidden by default. And there probably are a handful of other methods in KiCad.
It also looks like you’re doing this without a schematic. That is usually strongly discouraged, as quite a lot of things in the PCB editor do not work properly when you are working without the netlist that is generated by the schematic.
In the layers panel, only 1 layer appears to be selectable at a time - which is Front Copper.
I went into that area and unticked the only thing that seemed relevant (Visible, Fields only) but it didn’t make any difference. Am I missing something?
I’m starting to think that what I want is almost too simple for KiCad; all I need is pads with holes in the right places - a few SMD pads - and some wires that I’ll connect the two with. It’s almost as if KiCad needs to “over-think” it.
I did wonder if something like that existed, but I don’t think it would help me anyway as I want to make up something that’ll support several parts at once (typical laptop VRM components) - so I hope to get a MOSFET, inductor, and a capacitor on at a bare minimum.
Deselect the references so they don’t show up any more. You must remember that when creating the Gerbers, though, that hiding them here like this will not stop them appearing on the Gerbers which is why switching them off in the properties is better in your case.
On v9 you can also select all the footprints, then do Edit | Text and Graphic Properties to bring up this window:
Selecting as above will turn off all the ref designators once you hit apply.
kicad is very flexible, it’s just sometimes takes a while to get to the bottom of how to do something. I have to say I’m with Paul in terms of not having a schematic being frowned upon, but kicad will let you do exactly what you want here.
That is indeed yet another way to make the references (temporarily) invisible. You can click on the small round “eye” icon to make either a layer or an object (in) visible.
It’s not that KiCad is “over thinking it”, but it’s more that you do not realize there is (a little bit more) complexity involved. When you want to make something like:
Then, when drawing the copper tracks (KiCad uses “tracks” for copper conductors, and “wires” for electrical connections in the schematic) you make it a LOT easier for yourself if KiCad knows in advance which connections you want to make, and also: which connections you do NOT want to make. If KiCad knows this, then it automatically keeps an adjustable minimum clearance between the tracks and pads which may not be connected to each other. And for this, KiCad needs a netlist, and this is normally generated by the schematic. You can do this in the PCB editor, but this is a bit cumbersome.
Maybe you’re also a bit right that KiCad is “over thinking it” a bit for things like this. KiCad is designed around making much more complex PCB’s, and for those, working with a netlist (generated by the schematic) is an absolute must. Without that, KiCad would be quite worthless to most of it’s users.
And sure, it’s easy to add:
But the next question is: What size do you want these parts to be? KiCad has lots of footprints for those in different sizes, and it’s also easy to create footprints (with pads) of any size and shape you want. But this all does add some more complexity. KiCad is primarily designed for these more complex projects, but once you have learned to use KiCad as it is intended, simple projects such as this can also be done quickly and efficiently. But there is a bit of a learning curve for KiCad, as it has many functions, and things can be done in many different ways. For you it’s probably best to start with a beginners tutorial such as:
De-selecting “show” in Footprint Properties removed some of the “hot mess”, but still left a lot of other symbols.
I spent some time on the Objects Tab also, but still couldn’t get what I wanted. I’m aware of the implication for the silkscreen layer, so in the end I just created my own part.
I too agree with comments encouraging a schematic; in fact, I think it’s going to be an invaluable program for helping me reverse engineer circuits (especially the nets functionality).
For this project though (which was primarily a “jump in with both feet” to the PCB editor exercise) I think it would just have confused me even more on this occasion. I understand the implications of not having one and am prepared to handle things like my own track routing/placement.
I’ve used Photoshop to design PCBs in the past (a program I’m “super-familiar” with). For what I want, it’s easier to accomplish some things -v- KiCad in some areas - about the same in some other areas - and worse in yet other areas. Clealy not the right tool for the job going forward though - hence my investment in a KiCad education.
I’ll probably just end up creating my own footprints; correct me if I’m wrong, but KiCad doesn’t appear to just have, say, a pair of pads for a 0603 component - one has to pick a “0603 capacitor” or a “0603 resister” - and is then “burdened” by all the “baggage” associated with that chosen component.
I’ll have another look through the Getting Started tutorial; I found it overwhelming a week ago, but I’ve learned a lot since then.
Thanks @jmk - I think I’ll order some; at that price one can’t really go wrong. Not a perfect fit for what I was aiming for, but on reflection, they could possibly be “made to work” for some/many things. No worries about the headers; I seem to have accumulated a bazillion of the things from Arduino projects.
All in all, this is just part of the learning curve for me - which I think is coming along OK. I like to keep things neat and organised with respect to libraries and I’m finding that KiCad will create things in the wrong area if I don’t “think ahead” to “cut it off at the pass”. I’m still finding library management quite “clunky”, but I’m getting there. Same for a few other areas - but I’m sure I’ll learn what I need to in good time.
I did a quick Gerber export to see if I was on-track - and everything looked as expected.
All I need to do now is create/add pads - decide on the tracks - then learn how to replicate the design across a 100mm x 100mm board (including “mouse-bites”) - the max size from PCBWay for prototype boards at low low low prices.
