I wanted to design an FPC cable which is just an extender covered with GND layer for protection. Does KiCAD have the flex PCB designing capabilities, if yes then please share some documentation or else suggest some free opensource software to design this extender fpc cable.
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A flex PCB is exactly the same as a “normal” PCB. What are you expecting?
It’s up to the manufacturer to use the right materials.
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As ML9104 already mentioned. There is very little difference between designing a flex PCB or a rigid PCB (from for example FR4), and the main difference is in how you tell your PCB manufacturer what to make from your design files.
But there are some differences. Sharp corners in PCB tracks, or sudden widths of the flex PCB must be avoided because these are points where stress gets localized and cracks start in such regions (Especially if the flex is bent often. This is one situation where the “Round Tracks” plugin from Mitxela can be put to good use (other uses are mostly for visual appeal).
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Good point.
I’d forgotten about that one.
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Thanks for the clarification. Could you suggest how to add the stiffener? Should that info be part of the Gerber or it should be communicated separately to the fabricator?
Use one of the user drawing layers. Draw shapes that indicate where you want a stiffener, then include that as a separate gerber file. Tell your manufacturer that this file shows where you want stiffeners, and what thickness/material you want the stiffener to be.
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The flex feature not supported is where you have a flex bonded to a rigid piece and there are components on the flex, effectively on an inner layer of the stack up
• You setup the Flex PCB in the PCB Settings (Green Icon)>Stackup
• Need to get Flex requirements from the Vendor you want to have make it (example )
• Stiffener parts need to be identified on a Drawing (and discussed with Vendor)
The Kicad Icon
Design Info
From the Link above
Simple Example done in Kicad
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Hello,
I plan to design a single copper layer flexible printed circuit board in Kicad.
The minimum copper layers in “physical stackup” is 2, can’t be chosen as 1.
should I setup back Cu layer thickness to 0mm?
Then, I have only Dielectric 1 layer, how can I setup 2nd dielectric layer to meet structure as below 2nd snapshot shows? add dielectric layer like below 1st snapshot?
Thanks.
Hi and welcome @Jimaoqian
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Thank you, very helpful.
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