How To - second Additional PCB layout

HI
V6.rc1

Seen JLCPCB 'New User ’ SMT discount offer when looking around their site. I have a finished THD design I was about to upload before I saw the offer
SO , how to I include a second PCB layout of my board but keep the old one

To me a ‘Project’ suggests multiple files making up a finished project NOT 1 Schematic & 1 PCB

Thanks

Currently a project in KiCad consists of a single PCB and of a single schematic. The schematic can be drawn on multiple sheets, but it’s still a single schematic.

There are some workarounds for panelization, but they’re all ad-hoc solutions at the moment and not really supported by KiCad itself.

https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=KiCad+panelization

One KiCad project = one PCB.
But nobody forbids you to make a special PCB shape. Recently I shown a view of one my PCB:

I would recommend just making a copy of your project.

As others have mentioned, no there’s no easy way to do this in Kicad.
But I’ve used a tool called Gerber Panelizer by This Is Not Rocket Science to combine gerbers of multiple (or the same) projects before sending them off to the fab house.
It’s a bit clunky to work with, but I’ve had no problems with the combined results.

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I assume you mean you want to make both the THT and the SMT version side by side on the same panel and break them up after you receive them.

You might as well just make a copy of the project in a different directory, and then combine the PCBs with a paneliser before sending off the gerbers. Although it’s the same schematic, you’ll be changing the footprints before layout on the board.

The definition of project in KiCad is not the same as a project in planning terms. It just means one schematic + one PCB in general.

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