Hello all,
So I faced this issue where exporting step file it comes out with some issues.
The picture is as follows:
I see two problems here - bigger pins have donuts added and screw terminal at the bottom has few weird shapes (and also some surfaces missing).
I am running KiCAD 5.1.10 and I already checked the step files of each individual parts, but all seem to be fine.
Any ideas?
The donuts appear to to be a part of the step file, and I think they should have been clipped to only a tiny section at the end of the connector pins.
It also looks as the pins have moved relative to the housing on the other side of the PCB.
Does the .STEP file look OK in KiCad’s 3D viewer and in FreeCAD?
Have you tried loading the .STEP model in FreeCAD (or some other CAD program) to look at it’s internals and save it there?
Sometimes even just opening and then saving a file saves it in a slightly different way which could fix incompatibilities.
It may also help if you post the .STEP file here. That makes it easier for others to have a look at it. (I do not know about .STEP files myself).
I’m not sure why donuts are there to start with. I have opened pins step files with Creo and it seems fine. I also checked in KiCAD footprint library 3D viewer - all good.
The pins haven’t moved, they are perfectly positioned as required, just the extra features are present.
I tried exporting file number of times, even downloaded all pins 3D data again, updated all footprints etc, still was getting same issue.
In KiCAD 3D viewer it looks fine, so I assume it’s the export feature that failed.
Lastly I restarted my PC and it seems it has fixed it… Not sure what was causing it though.
To me it looks like it’s one of those overly detailed .STEP models. SoA detailed .STEP model for a footprint can be bitter then a whole KICad project.
I’m guessing that a very small section of the donut is used at the very end of the connector.
It seems to have all kinds of nice chamfers and rounded corners, but it would be more clear if you zoom in more
(Or posted the .STEP model so others can look at it).
There are similar donuts around the base of some of the pins.
Yes the pins are quite detailed, but I have used them in other assemblies and never seen such issues.
When zoomed in, there’s nothing visible too.
Pin’s step file attached.
Just exported it again with same donuts, so it is not yet fixed…
1-1452688-2.stp (543.1 KB)
I gave it a try with my v5.1.10 but all seems ok with this particular model:
3D Viewer shows it like this:
Exporting in PCBNew with File->Export->STEP i get the following model in FreeCAD (left the model directly loaded, right the model exported from KiCAD)
No problem either importing with StepUp into FreeCAD
Application: Pcbnew
Version: (5.1.10)-1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.5
libcurl/7.71.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1g (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.3.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.0) libssh2/1.9.0 nghttp2/1.41.0
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.5 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.73.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.71.0
Compiler: GCC 10.2.0 with C++ ABI 1014
Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON
Edit: If you delete this model from your PCB and leave the rest, do you still get donuts when exporting ?
Hm, it’s really weird, my colleague opened same assembly step file and got no issues. I opened it number of times and always got the donuts. I restarted my PC and opened it again - no donuts. I suspect it’s the 3D software that’s playing up on me…
Edit: in 3D viewer (KiCAD) I have never seen the ‘donut’ features.
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