You can also find mounting holes to place on your schematic in the schematic library titled “Mechanical”.
Then associate a size and type from the footprint library “Mounting holes”.
Just in case you miss this part in the “getting started”:
All created, modified and imported (from 3rd party), footprints, symbols and 3ds must be placed in “personal libraries” to use in Kicad, so, you need to create personal libraries before creating footprints and symbols.
If you view this tutorial of mine, at 11 & 1/2 minutes into it, the Kicad Footprint Making starts…
Use the ‘Cog’ in the play window to change play speed
The creating custom footprints docs do not explain how to add mechanical mounting holes to a footprint. I can follow the process of making a footprint (or at first read it makes sense) and adding pads, that seems to make sense. However, I want unplated holes associated with the footprint. Can that be done in the same menus? The example for the doc is simple - I need something slightly more complicated. I will go and try, but I thought I would ask first.
Separate question is there an auto-router, or do I have to route the board by hand? So far I have not found any instructions for auto-routing. I used auto-routers in the 80’s. My simple board can be hand routed, but if I don’t have to, I’d rather not.
Perhaps this will do it for you…
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There is no autorouter, see one of the many threads on this forum for why that’s the case (and probably will remain the case).
That being said: the interactive router has a number of features that make routing quite easy. Consider playing with the options to see what fits your style of routing best.
Thanks. Pretty much understand adding holes to the edge cut area, and or importing a CAD drawing for the board. Got that. Seems I could also draw the board outline in KiCAD, which you show in your video.
My new and hopefully refined question is about having mechanical holes (for the display) in the footprint editor, so the part mounting holes track the part pins. As I understand it, Pin1 is at 0,0? What grid is needed. The non plated mounting holes are not on a standard grid. (Don’t blame me, that’s how it is made!) The pins with plated through holes and pads are on a 2.54mm spacing. Is this possible in the footprint editor?
Excellent!
Yes
Yep, same process as for holes on PCB. Draw them in the Footprints on Edge_cut layer.
Regarding Dimensions: The hole stay where you put them relative to the Footprint. As far as Position details/dimensioins… Learn how to view the Coord/positons at bottom of panel and in the various item editors, they have dimension/location fields.
Also, learn about the Grid…
@Bruce_Labitt
My bed time.
I’ll leave you in the more than capable hands of @BlackCoffee
Below are instructions I lifted from a previous thread on library creation. They may help you.
Cheers,
After finding a suitable place for the personal libraries, with the computer Operating System, create three folders.
Name these folders “Personal_Kicad_ Symbol_Libraries”,“Personal_Kicad_Footprint_Libraries” and “Personal_Kicad_3D_models” (or use similar names to your personal satisfaction).
Next, go into Kicad > Footprint Editor > File > Add Library > Global
You will be asked to select a folder. You navigate to the folder using the selection in the green box.
In your case, it will be D (lower green arrow).
Next select your newly created footprint folder and highlight.
Next give your new library a name (Top RH corner of new window) then Save.
You now have a personal global footprint library.
You will now find your new footprint library in the library list on the LHS of your footprint and PCB editor.
Libraries are listed in numeric followed by alphabetic order, so you may need to hunt for the library.
Next, go to Preferences > Manage Footprint Libraries > Global Libraries , and scroll to the bottom of the list.
Personal Libraries are always at the bottom of this list.
You will notice the “nickname” and the “library path”
If you ever change ANYTHING in the library path you will have to go through this whole procedure again to allow Kicad to find your library.
As mentioned above, the library list showing in the PCB & Footprint Editor is in numeric followed by alphabetic order, but if you wish to relocate, for convenience, your personal library, you can change the name in the “Nickname” column. eg. changing a name from “SFUSatClub” to “3SFUSatClub” will move your library from somewhere in S to the top of the PCB & Footprint editors lists.
Follow the exact same procedure to create symbol libraries BUT this time use the Symbol Editor and place in the Symbol folder and use Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries.
Kind of surprised, really. Like I was using an auto-router in the 80’s. So like 40 years ago… As I mentioned, my new board is simple enough to do by hand. I’m astonished. Seems there’s a way to go here. Gives me a lot of pause. Like not considering KiCad for anything complicated.
Um, I have no style of routing, and I have no idea of what best practice is. What do you recommend?
There are lots of autorouters out there, and have been for a long time as you say, but the good ones have been (and mostly remain) the domain of expensive software. My understanding is it is a deceptively difficult programming challenge that people dedicate careers to, and there’s no one working on this open source project who has that ability/time to get good when there are constantly other features to add.
In terms of style, I’m no expert, but I prefer the default “walk around” router since I do parts placement first and it is rare for me to adjust it. Some people prioritize routing though, so they might do a very rough parts placement and then let the router shove less important parts as needed. I assume highlight collisions gives you the most freedom, but I’ve not needed it.
Well, I’m not suggesting you abandon Kicad but, I will make you aware (if not already knowing) that Fritzing is a very nice app designed for one/two layer PCB’s. It has a nice adjustable Autorouter and many Parts (e.g., footprint).
Easy to use but not as full-featured as Kicad but, you won’t be hindered by that until working on complex projects (years from now).
I used Fritzing for several years after abandoning Eagle and I did well over ~200 PCB’s using Fritzing
Where might I find succinct information on that? I understand the pins need to be on the grid 0.050"/1.27mm. Can I have mounting holes (specified in the footprint editor) off grid?
I didn’t find Fritzing appealing. Rather use KiCad for now.
This first board will be 4 layer, two for power and ground (might be split plane power) and two for wiring. This will be used to control a stepper motor so I need the planes to make this more robust. I also have a VFD generating 3 phase power for a lathe motor nearby so I don’t want the circuitry to be noise susceptible. Hope 4 layers is sufficient. I do know it will be better than the flying wires I have now!
I’m not encouraging the use of Fritzing (except to folks with limited needs and/or skills). That said, and by coincidence I made single-layer Stepper Motor boards using Fritzing and they work perfectly… Here’s Two of them…
Grids…
Generally, placement of Parts and Design features strive for the Standard of 0.10 Inch (2.54mm) Pitch and decrease/increase by multiples of Halves.
Thus, some large parts use Pitch of 3.79mm and larger and small parts use Pitch of 1.27mm and 0.635mm
You can set the Gird on the Fly, as needed… and use the Info displayed at the bottom the PCB panel and, Yes, you can place Mounting Holes/other where you want and need them (on or off the grid)…
I’m sure that it isn’t easy, otherwise it would have been done. Are there that many more features to add to KiCAD that really warrant attention, or are they easy window dressing? I don’t want to infer that anyone is kicking the can down the road, but, one would think that 40 YRO technology should be able to be incorporated.
I can’t even imagine selecting KiCAD for a commercial endeavor (or an 8-10 layer board) due to the lack of auto-routing. You’d have to be pretty expert to do such a board, and it would take quite a while, like months and months. My experience with auto-routing was quite good, 6-8 layer boards of decent complexity being done in under 10 minutes. Rarely there were a few nets it couldn’t place.
Ten years ago we were doing 8 layer high density boards (not created by me, but I used the boards) with 0201s and fine grid BGA’s for radars. They would have taken a very long time to route by hand, they were all auto-routed in hours.
That is what I need to know, thanks!
Yeah, would be nice if Kicad had embedded Autorouter. But, I (and many other experienced engineers prefer to route manually).
There are Autorouter plugins for Kicad, if you google around…
Is freerouting any good? Does it work for V6?
I am not an experienced PCB engineer. Not even sure if I want to become one. I just want boards that work for the least amount of my input. At the moment, I am like a one handed wallpaper hanger - I’m doing everything. (System design, software design, mechanical design, machining, testing etc.) In my view, the pcb and its design should be a minor amount of the work, as compared to the total of everything else. My comments are not to denigrate those that are skilled in the art, but a recognition that I am not expert in this, so I desire to use machines, ie computers to do tasks. I machine things by hand. If I wanted to do a lot of pieces, I’d want to automate the effort, so I’d gravitate towards CNC. Routing, at least to me, seems like it should be automated. Will it be as tastefully done? Probably not. Anyways, this is a moot discussion for the base KiCAD, as there’s no native auto-router.
Thanks for continuing to answer my questions, I greatly appreciate it. I have learned a lot.