Is there a way to auto route in kiCad?
Make a search in the forum for Freeroute.
If you visit the following site and go down to the Freerouter section it explains how to get the software. Basically you just need to go to the GitHub page (also shown below) and get the FreeRouting.jar file, rename it to freeroute.jar and put it in KiCad’s bin directory:
amichalec.net/2015/10/kicad-upgrade/
github.com/freerouting/freerouting
Once this is done I have a basic description of using Freerouter in the following post:
forum.kicad.info/t/is-an-autoroute-function-or-freeroute-still-available/2480/4
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Yes there is a way to autoroute in Kicad
You have to enable the Mode Track: Autorouting, right click and choose >Autoroute>Automatically Route all Footprint
Though you will need to load and make sure there are no errors in the netlist, assuming you have saved all the netlist in the schematic
There maybe some pins that might be left out, you might then have to undo the routing and place some components in a different part of the pcb, though I would set up the track width first for earth (gnd) and voltage tracks or trace
KicadRichie’s method is probably the best one to try first as it does not involve adding anything extra to the software - it usually works quite well.
I only ever do single sided boards so the routing is sometime a bit tricky as you can not just jump under a track using vias to the other side of the board - this is usually when I have found Freerouter to have helped when KiCad gets stuck and leaves a few unconnected tracks.
When I have tested the auto routing in KiCad on the boards I have made using two layers KiCad has always routed them up almost instantly - I then have to undo it and start trying to get it to work on just one side.
(A few times when I have a board nicely laid out and all routed except for one stubborn track I have occasionally snuck in a zero ohm resistor to use as a sneaky link…)
Thank you to everyone who replied. I have 20 years experience using OrCad but I am trying to get away from
Windows and have found Linux Mint a very nice OS. I can do all the mechanical 2D I need using DraftSight
and the only missing piece to the puzzle of abandoning Windows was to find a good EDA for PCB design.
I think I’ve found it. I still have to learn a lot of stuff with kiCAD though. I am just getting my feet wet right now.
I haven’t got to the point of trying to layout a board yet but I should be doing that by the end of the summer.
The ultimate goal is to leave Windows behind. I’m tired of all the money grubbing, straight jacket approach
MS has used on all of us for the past few decades.
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Great, where, exactly, does freerouter.jar go for KiCAD on Mac? (no “bin” folder)
It is supposed to go inside the
/Applications/Kicad/kicad.app/Contents/Applications/pcbnew.app/Contents/MacOS/ folder
(Right click and Show package contents to navigate to the ‘Contents’ folders)
Then clicking on the yellow icon in pcbnew will prompt you to export a .dsn and launch Freeroute
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And What about this video in you-tube?
It doesn’t seems to be a fake video, but i don’t have this option on my KiCAD installation.
(Version 4.06 on Linux)
Anybody knows how to use this option ?
WARNING!
If one has chosen to use rounded rectangular pads in their design, then Freeroute fails.
It appears that Freeroute “sees” the half circles portions as individual pads; thus two pads seen per ONE actual rounded rectangle pad.
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That would explain problems I had with a recent project.
Does the same apply to complex polygonal pads built up of multiple rectangular pads, something that we see a lot of with power pad smd packages?
I have no idea; and I don’t plan on taking my time to find out. However, I suspect that your question is the logical conclusion.
Looking at the Freeroute code,
https://github.com/freerouting/freerouting/blob/master/src/designformats/specctra/Shape.java
it seems to know about polygon, rectangle and round features in a Specctra file, with nothing analogous to a RoundRect feature. If the DSN being exported by KiCad is turning roundrects into circles or combinations of circles, that might explain the behavior described.
Does the Specctra DSN format actually support roundrects? If not, the KiCad exporter might perhaps be better off exporting a Rectangle or, maybe, a polygon, but that would get a bit bloated, i.e. imagine a DIP40.
Regards,
Erich.
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