Hello, I’m working on my first PCB, I’ve got a track which is partially on B.cu and f.cu and I want to connect them together, I did see it done on a tutorial video but now I can’t find the video. I recall it was quite straightforward.
Could someone please advise?
Use a “via”. When routing your track, pressing “v”, at the point where you want to continue at the flip side of the board, drops down a via and allows you to continue tracing at the other side.
Thank you, I knew it was simple…
This might be of interest to you Tutorial: Introduction to PCB design with KiCad version 5.1 (Getting Started)
A via is simply a hole in the board with copper on the walls.
You should understand that the default via is at the minimum the typical board mfg can produce. It is not the recommended size. This goes for the default trace with as well. The minimum is very small and should only be used if absolutely required.
I recommend:
Via size 1.6 mm + (this is the OD of the via “pad”)
Via drill 0.8 mm +
Track width 0.5mm+ Higher on power and ground traces.
In the above + means or higher. If you have the room there is not need to make the traces small. This being your first board. With larger traces the board is more likely to survive a short. And if you make a mistake it is easier to solder a wire to a wide trace.
Good luck.
You can connect top and bottom copper through a “through hole part leg”.
Thanks, that’s some invaluable advice there. I’m going to stick with 0.75mm for 48/12/5 volt lines and 0.5mm for signal lines from a micro controller, hope that’s legit?
does your board fabricator have any prefered drill sizes? Remember the via/drill information is finished size not actual drill (so the how will be larger due to plating)
I never concerned myself with the physical drill the mfg uses. I’ve had 5 different boards make at JPLPCB and one at OSHPark. None responded that a specified drill was not an option.
My guess is they have enough drill sizes to be within their hole size spec for just about any hole.
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