Exporting PDF of very large pcb layout full size on larger paper size

Layout
1

Hello,

For a project we are using KiCad to make the board layout. The PCB itself is part of a structural component and has a large physical size (480x120mm ~= 18.9x4.7 inches).

I can export the layout to a PDF, but of course the whole layout will not fit on an A4 paper (~30x20 cm, EU size). There is the option to export to A3, but then the layout is enlarged, not using the actual size to show more of the layout.

The layout will fit on an A2 sheet of paper (=594x420mm). I would like to print the whole layout, on actual size to an A2 PDF. I cannot find this option anywhere, does anyone have a tip on how to do this? Thanks!

2

If you are in windows a trick is to print using Foxitpdf printer bundled with the free Foxit Reader …

1 Like
3

I’m not on Windows, but I will ask someone who is to check if that works. Thanks, I’ll let you know if it worked!

Edit; I see that Foxit PDF printer is not free, I’d rather use something open source with KiCad :slight_smile: But we’ll see if we get it working, thanks

4

With FoxitReader free is bundled also the pdf printer driver for free… it is an option when installing FR… I use it without any cost…
Anyway an other option is to use the plot option selecting pdf as out in kicad, but this is working only on single layer

5

OK, thank you, I misread the website then.
In the meantime, I have looked around in the settings, and by adding a custom paper size (A2 wasn’t an option anyway) it does work. So for future reference if anyone’s interested; adding a custom paper size solved this issue for me.

Thanks maui for your input, I’ll check out Foxit when I have access to Windows.

1 Like