Hi there,
When I observe the GERBER files, I saw that non functional pads are included. I would like to know if there is some option for exclusion of non funtional pads, when extracting the GERBERs for fabrication. Its very important for signal integrity purpose.
I’m not really sure what you want, but have a look at the board-editor–>Tools–>Remove unused pads.
You need to actually remove these pads from your footprint if you want them to be excluded. The Gerber export will contain whatever design data is in your board file.
Yes you are right! I did not find this option before
No, sorry maybe I didn’t explain well. I’m talking about the non funtional pads for example in Vias or PTH
Euhm, craftyjon did understand it. And I was doing some experiments in the background.
Just to be sure we’re all on the same page:
In KiCad these “non functional pads” are a feature of the PCB itself, and they are not an option during Gerber export.
You can directly change these in the footprints, by setting the copper layers:
Doing that for all pads is quite a bore though.
I was not aware of the PCB Editor / Tools / Remove Unused Pads that mf_ibfeew mentioned, but I experimented a bit with it, and it does exactly the same as setting these properties in the footprints.
You can quite easily verify this in the 3D viewer (press PCB Editor / [Alt + 3]), and then disable the solder mask layers, so you can view “inside” the pcb.
All of that you mentioned is true, but let me tell you. You can have a via PAD without being in a component footprint. So, for that, the option “board-editor–>Tools–>Remove unused pads” is the best choice I think.
Yes indeed, Footprints do not have via’s, so removing them afterward is the only option.
This is also a quite new function in KiCad, which is only introduced in KiCad V6 and it is not tested very well and a bit “unpolished”. I (and probably craftyjon too) did not know this was in the Tools menu.
If it’s only available as a tool, then you are likely to forget to re-run the tool when modifications to the PCB are made and this leads to quite subtle but probably unwanted behavior. To me, it feels like this setting should also be a project setting somewhere in PCB Editor / File / Board Setup,
Something like:
Do you know how other programs handle this?
@Diogo : If you want to use this tool with v6.0.x first look at the still open gitlab issue #11299: PCBNEW: Pours don't obey clearance if unused via pads are toggled off (#11299) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab
“Yes indeed, Footprints do not have via’s, so removing them afterward is the only option.” The goal of my words was not that. I am saying that if you have the two cases (via on tracks or in components) you make the removal at onces with that option in layout.
" To me, it feels like this setting should also be a project setting somewhere in **PCB Editor / File / Board Setup" I agree with you!
“Do you know how other programs handle this?” in Xpedition layout is in ODB++ extraction
I will check that, thanks!
I know about this tool. I thought the OP was referring to unused pads in a footprint, not unused pads in a PTH pad stack.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
