I have a very simple layout with some parts where two smd pads are (intentionally) connected via a copper track. The affected parts are N1 and N2. When I run the DRC I expect it to raise alarms on overlapping objects. But it doesn’t.
The project is on https://github.com/Blunk-electronic/kicad-training in subfolder “projects”. The project name is “transmission_line”.
The package model of N1 and N2 is in lbr/netchanger.pretty/N_0603.kicad_mod . When I made the package model I got a warning about overlapping copper structures. So I expect the DRC to follow suit. What is wrong ? Thanks !
I think this behavior is related to how the back-end of kicad works.
Short version: tracks get their net assigned by looking which pad they intercept.
This post may be worth reading. (There the system is explained.)
I guess that drc does not see copper features within footprints. Which means it can’t test them. I can’t say if this is on purpose or by accident.
If you want a definitive answer you could create a bug report. (But search first if there already exists one.)
Bug tracker: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/
Maybe you could ask on the developers mailing list. (The developers don’t really follow this forum.)
Rene,
in this case I’m ok with this “bug”. The result of this experiment is a good outcome. I’m used to EAGLE, which raises an alarm in such cases. It take a lot of workaround to convince the EAGLE DRC that is seemingly “design-error” is intentional.
The parts N1 and N2 do exactly what I wanted to achieve: connect nets with different names !
Thanks !