Hi,
I’m a newbee to this software. Can anyone help me draw a PCB directly into Kicad without creating a schematic or a footprint?
Could you provide any argument that you want to give up 90% of program functionality?
Some people use PCB design software to make PCB-art just because other graphic programs don’t allow to generate gerbers needed to order PCB. Is it your case?
No, I have a gerber file ready with me. I want to trim the unwanted parts of it. But I couldn’t do that. Now it seems that I have to create the design from scratch. How do i do that?
Never did it, but I suppose in FAQ you should find description how to reverse engineer PCB as it looks it is what you want.
From my point of view it is always better to have schematic of any electronic thing you are designing (or even modifying).
KiCad’s main task (like any other PCB design software) is to keep eyes on what you are doing at PCB in context if it is compatible with schematic so without schematic it can’t help you to avoid making wrong connections or not connecting something that should be connected.
I think the main point for you is to switch router into “Highlight collisions” mode when KiCad allows you to do everything you want only highlighting things that from its point of view are not correct (I have never used that mode).
I would love to create a schematic but the PCB only has a trace top and bottom and not components. I don#t know how to do that
If these PCB is intended to be assembled with elements you should be able to find where each of element was supposed to be. Based on it you should be able to make schematic (even for example using resistors having no value specified). If you assign to such resistor the correct footprint (according to what is at PCB) then you will be able to just make a copy of that PCB starting prom placing footprints as they were in original.
If pcb is not intended to be assembled than it is like PCB-art.
If you can see at PCB element footprints you can probably start from placing correct footprints at PCB, connecting them with tracks (in “Highlight collision mode” KiCad should have nothing against) and then there are some ways (never tried, don’t know, but may be in reverse-engineering description it is described) to help you to get schematic from PCB.
This is strange. What do you expect to do with a circuit board when you don’t even know what components are on it? Do you know what the board is supposed to do? Can you find a design that does the job and has a schematic?
Open Kicad and select the Gerber Viewer tool/Icon in the main Panel.
Load your Gerber’s into it.
Then, File> Export to PCB. Then you can do what you want with it…
I did NOT bother to load the Drill Gerbers…
The Result in the PCB Editor after opening the Exported file…
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Creating a PCB from Gerber files is easy and quick in KiCad, but it’s not a complete process and needs quite a lot of cleanup afterwards.
Thanks a lot.
This worked very well.
oops i replied to the wrong message
Thanks a lot.
This worked very well.
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