I’m trying to finish the last mile…
I have only 2 DRC errors left, that I don’t understand.
Please see pictures.
Kicad says: Error: footprint component type doesn’t match footprint pads. Expected SMD, actuel through-hole.
For the first one, I punched a hole in the thermal pad, which is an easy visual way to check that it’s properly soldered. And beside this, you can solder the pad from the back side with a simple iron, which is a handy solution if you don’t have a hot air station.
But the second one, I don’t see any through hole in the pads…
Does anybody know what this error means?
In this case, it’s not crucial because the chip (a memory) would work even without a thermal
pad. Byt in the case of a high current laser driver, vias are mandatory. Many of them, small diameters
in order to reduce the vias inductance.
Does anyvory have a solution for this kind of via in thermal pad?
Kicad version is needed (version-string would be enough). After some discussion there were some changes made on this specific DRC-check in the past. A recent kicad-version should not flag your usecase as a warning.
You could also try to change the THT-pad parameter “Fabrication property” to heatsink pad, maybe that is accepted from the drc-check.
In the end it is up to you, the designer to decide if you agree with ERC and DRC. These are tools to advise and help you, not policemen, just warnings to stop and think.
Thanks for your reply.
I tried to change the fabrication property. It doesn’t change the result.
By the way, any idea of what happens for the second circuit? It’s an SMD device (actually
a dip switch) and there is no through hole except a via close to TXD.
The detail of the configuration is below.
In the end it is up to you, the designer to decide if you agree with ERC and DRC. These are tools to advise and help you, not policemen, just warnings to stop and think.
Yes, I’m aware of that. But it’s like a C compiler. You are allowed to ignore the warnings or you can try to fix them all. In my case, I would like to fix all the errors and warnings for 2 reasons:
In a larger project, I may end with dozens of error/warning lines in which case it’s likely to miss an important error.
In some cases like this one, I’m not sure of what it actually means. Maybe I missed something important and it would feel better if I can fix all the warnings before sending to the PCB maker. Beside this, these are not warnings but errors.
------------------------------- Version detail ---------------------------
Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64
Just for info: I have sent my data to the manufacturer and now I have just upgraded to 7.0.3.
It looks like many bugs have been fixed, for instance the wxwidget not found at startup,
and also the ERC check panel which does not disapper every now and then.
Thanks for the great work. I hope it will allow me be less noisy next time.
this error comes up when a footprint is marked as SMD in the footprint properties but has things that make KiCad believe it is actual an through-hole. these could be actual through hole pads like in your first example but also if there are elements, drawings etc. which can lead to that. I never really figured out when a footprint is considered through hole to as I also have SMD components with thermal relief vias in the footprint like your first example which are not considered through hole…
By the way, any idea of what happens for the second circuit? It’s an SMD device (actually
a dip switch) and there is no through hole except a via close to TXD.
No idea.
Attach the project (for this special DRC-check you could delete all other items on the board if the layout is secret), than we can look further.
