Hi all
I’m a newbie with Kicad but really enjoying this but I’m stuck.
I’ve created the schematic gone through the process and I have my components laid out on my PCB. BUT!! I’ve realised I needed to add more components to the pcb. I’ve added the extra components within pcbnew but I’m unable to add any tracks to the new components. Obviously I’m doing this the wrong way, can someone please point me in the right direction on how to do this.
Many thanks
Update the schematic.
Hi madworm could you please be just a tad more specific. Am I alright to add the new components within pcbnew and will updating the schematic add them in to it. Many thanks for getting back tho
The usual workflow is to create the schematic, assign footprints, create the netlist, load that in pcbnew, place parts & layout.
Just throwing parts onto the board without them being in the schematic / netlist in the first place will do you no good. DRC will not allow tracks, as you’ve found out.
Go with the flow or suffer immensely.
Ok thanks, figured out that it wasn’t going to plan after realising I’d forgotten components. I’ll go back a step cheers
I would first suggest making a backup of the entire project then if you make any mistakes in the following you can just start again from where you were originally.
As mentioned above you need to add the new components to the schematic. Once this is done you need to annotate the schematic, then assign footprints using CVPCB and then generate and save the netlist. This is exactly what you did the first time round.
Once the netlist is created open up PCBNEW and click the read netlist (NET) button (as you did the first time), you can then choose from a few options as to whether you want to delete old footprints and tracks etc. When ready click ‘read current netlist’ and your new footprints will appear along with the relevant rat nest lines.
You can now go ahead and connect up the new footprints as you did originally.
That’s an excellent summary of the process - memorize the steps and practice them until you can do them in your sleep!
I know there are other opinions on this, but I recommend using the “Timestamp” method of Footprint Selection on the “READ NETLIST” menu. This seems to assure that the imported footprints include any tweaks you may have made recently.
Dale
Hi
Thanks to you all for these great suggestions. As I’ve been working on my projects I’ve realised things weren’t quite as I’d expected and I’ve now thankfully learned the proces of how to add to my pcb. from both the schematic and whilst in pcb. mode.
Your advice as been so valuable to a newbie like me.
I’m now in the process of debugging/fault finding befor I actually print our ready to produce my own pcb. Fingers crossed I don’t miss anything.
Regards