I am pretty new to KiCad and I am facing an issue to connect tracks to a component using KiCad V:7.0.9.
The component is the SQJ504EP (Datasheet), I have downloaded the symbol and the footprint from Ultralibrarian (Symbol & Footprint).
When I try to connect the drains to existing tracks I get an error as shown in the following image:
When I try to connect an existing track to the drains, the track cannot reach the pad.
How can I sort this problem out?
The startpoint violates DRC usually means there is some object in the way. For THT pads it is often lines on Edge.Cuts. For a footprint downloaded from an EDA library site in combination with the unusual pad shape, I suspect the pad itself is designed with a graphical polygon instead of a pad.
Also, V7.0.9 is an obsolete / old KiCad version. KiCad V8 has been released last february, but if you want to stick with KiCad V7, then upgrade to V7.0.11. Increments in the third number are bug fix updates and updating is always recommended. For more info you can read the Release-Notes on the offical KiCad website.
It is because the footprint was made poorly. The two large pads have polygons on the copper layer but are not connected to a net, violating DRC.
The fastest option to use this broken footprint is to change the Interactive Router Mode. Go to Route -> Interactive Route Settings and change the mode to Highlight Collisions. Then, make sure Allow DRC Violations is ticked.
Of course, when you run DRC, it will continue to complain. You will have to ignore the violations.
Another option would be to use KiCad 8 so you can connect the polygon to a net. Unfortunately, you cannot set that polygon in the footprint. So, you would have to edit the footprint and delete the large polygon. Then re-draw it in PCB and connect it to the appropriate net.
Last, the correct option would be to edit the footprint and modify the pad to have a custom shape. (That isnât something I have ever done.)
Edit: (see reply below for the actual best option.)
I donât have an ultralibrarian account, but baldengineers post confirms my suspicion. In KiCad, an âPolygonâ is a graphical entity, and by default graphical entities are not part of a net, and thus attempting to draw a copper track over it is a DRC violation.
Both these methods are cludges:
A better solution is to open the footprint in the Footprint Editor, then select the pad and press: [Ctrl + E] twice to enter and exit Pad Edit Mode. This makes the polygon a part of the pad, and thus KiCad will also calculate clearances around the polygon just as for pads and tracks, and it uses the new shape for calculating the solder mask cutout, solder paste, etc.
I knew there was a way to accomplish this ⌠but I couldnât remember how!
If you know there is a better way, then itâs better to not post the other way. There are lotâs of people here who can respond, and enough of them will be able to recall / post the âbetter wayâ. But it is good to have the confirmation that it was indeed a graphical polygon that was the cause of the trouble.
Understood.
I will immediately discontinue replying to threads on this forum.
Moving forward, in the rare situations where I mistakenly think I can contribute, I will absolutely seek your permission to post before doing so.
Please accept my sincere apologies for not understanding that this rule was in place.
There is no such rule.
There is absolutely no need for personal apologies.
It is also a great shame that your Message icon has been removed.
Thank you for your prompt answer.
I need some more help. I have selected the pad as in the image below.
When I press [Ctrl + E] nothing happens. Likely, because Iâm on a Mac. I have also tried [Opt+E] and [Cmd+E] without success.
Could you please tell me how to enter in the Pad Edit Mode from the menu options?
In the Footprint Editor, hover over the pad in question, right mouse click, and towards the bottom of the displayed list is: Edit Pad as Graphic Shapes.
What KiCad version are you now using? I seem to remember that this polygon to pad feature is in V8
This was rude in the extreme and totally inappropriate. It may well have caused us to lose a valuable contributor. A public apology is needed here.
Forum participants can never know whether someone else will come along later and reply with a better solution. Suggesting that they should refrain from posting a valid if non-optimal solution would kill participation.
I donât understand not only why extreme but even why rude at all.
For me @paulvdh statement is simply true.
My longer statement on this subject is here:
Iâd like to understand why you think it is not only rude but rude in the extreme.
Can truth be rude? For me truth is truth - canât be rude.
If you agree with this than you have to see in paulvdh sentence something being not true, what I donât see.
Could you point me what is not truth there?
Do you think that if you know that there is a better way it is better to write or not write the worse way?
If you ask someone for directions and he knows there is a better one, but he shows you a worse one, do you think he did better or worse? If he didnât show it, you would ask another person and he or she would show you a better way.
And also I feel like people are reading âit canât be writtenâ when paulvdh writes âit is better not to write itâ.
This thread is not the place for this arguement
I installed V8.0 on both Windows and macOS but apparently the issue is related to the footprint itself.
If I select PAD#1 the âEdit Pad as Graphics Shapesâ shows up (on a Mac it is accessible using Cmd+E).
If I select PAD#5, that option doesnât show up.
As far as I understand, PAD#5 is not actually a pad.
Any suggestion on how to quickly transform that shape in a Pad?
If this is the case, you will have to open the footprint in the footprint editor to make modifications.
This is an imported footprint, so Iâm not certain how it will behave. (Iâve never bothered importing footprints; always made my own)
You should be able to:
Do the same with any other graphic shapes that need to be pads.
Everything in this forum is human communication, and human communication is much much more than pure logic or true/false statements.
Iâm a Gentoo Linux user. I joined the user mailing list back around 2003. I learned quick to try to put everything in as positive a context as possible. Sometimes what a person thinks doesnât quite reach the keyboard. Sometimes a post can be read two or three different ways just because a comma may be missing or one added by accident. When I learned that, it helped a lot on my part. The reason, at least 99 times out of a 100, what I read and/or how I understood a post wasnât what the poster intended. Sometimes it is best to try to read in the best way and ask for clarification if unsure.
Putting feelings and/or emotions into text is almost impossible. If we all read the worst into a post, it wonât be any fun at all. Life is hard enough already. Why add some more grief to it???
Pad 5 is a pad, but that dropdown youâre seeing is KiCad asking you which of the overlapping objects you want to select. After selecting Pad #5 you should be able to press Cmd+E to enter pad edit mode.
