Getting To Blinky 4.0

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I redid my tutorial series about getting to the point of a blinking piece of hardware. This is to match with the changes for the 4.0 version of KiCad, including additional videos for ordering parts and building the board. This set of videos was the motivation to start this forum in the first place.

https://contextualelectronics.com/learning/getting-to-blinky-4-0/

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Thanks, that was fun. I did cringe while watching you tie the control pin to ground, but you saved it in the end.

A few things:

  • I’ve mostly stopped using CvPCB since you can select the footprint directly from the schematic. Copying is helpful since the footprint is also copied.
  • When making schematic symbols, use the 50 grid spacing when you place pins. That makes your symbol easier to use with the schematic’s default grid.
  • Defining pin types isn’t that hard, and a note/video about how it works and how to use power flags would have been nice.
  • When creating Gerbers for OSH Park, use the “Protel File Extensions”.
  • Soldering on camera is definitely challenging. I think it is fine to show that you can “get there” without being a pro.

Nice job!

1 Like
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Good feedback, thanks!

Agree that the power flags aren’t hard, but I find they cause a lot more headaches than they cause for beginners, that’s why I usually leave those until later.

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I had a question about the part where you are filling out the top zone to ground. I keep getting these weird tracks veering off to the left from the GNDD terminals (C1 has two for some reason). Any explanation as to why that may be?
Thanks in advance!

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Are you on a Mac?

In my experience, those are artifacts from how macs are drawing the screen. They are a bit annoying but I’m not sure how to get rid of them.

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They are the outlines of the zones. These should not be displayed if you have “Show filled areas in zones” selected, so perhaps that is a bug. It looks like the outline is in highlight color, so maybe the outlines are always drawn but are normally not visible due to the color.

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What is the correct way to treat pin 5?

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During layout? Leave it disconnected. If you have connected it, the videos show how to modify it.