I want to generate a super simple design, basically I want two soldier holes on a PCB that are separated by 8 mm exactly vertically, then two mounting holes to the left and right of the soldier. See attached picture for details. I want to directly generate a PCB using this schematic, because I read online that the PCB should still be generated even though there’s error in the schematic. It seems like the PCB editor is not allowing me to generate the 3D PCB? And it’s forever stuck at the “Update PCB from schematic”…It should be a very simple schematic, I’m very very new to kiCAD and there’s no one around me doing KiCAD, I’d truly appreciate some help here. Thanks in advance.
ERC is a separate thing. ERC violations do not prevent you in any way from creating or updating the PCB.
Your ERC violations are also easy to fix. For the Pin not connected, place No Connect flags, to indicate to KiCad that you really do not want to connect anything to that pin, and it’s not just a forgotten pin.
The Symbol pin or or wire end off grid is a nasty one. The grid in the schematic editor is an important thing. To make it easy on yourself, just set the grid to 50mil, then select everything (Zoom out and drag a box around everything, then right click and select Align Elements to Grid from the context menu. The reasons for using a 50mil grid have been mentioned on this forum many times.
Schematic Editor / Tools / Update PCB from Schematic has it’s own dialog, and it shows you a list of errors and warnings. A missing footprint as retiredfeline already mentioned is the most likely problem.
And also, don’t rush it. Read some tutorials and manuals. KiCad is not difficult to use, but there are a lot of functions in it, and it will take some time and effort to be able to use it effectively.
Yes, but it is not possible to create a PCB with no components . . . what footprints have you assigned to your schematic symbols ? (the footprints are what goes on the PCB)
No matter how simple the design the best practice is to create a schematic for it. Then in the schematic editor assign footprints to the components.
Once completed press F8 (update PCB from schematic). PCB editor will open and populate with footprints. You then position all the footprints and lay out the traces, set size of PCB etc.
