EDIT: i hope to have posted in the correct section
I discovered the Fabrication Toolkit JLCPCB.
Excellent! Thank you so much to all programed this tool. It makes the life way easier.
I need a help from you now.
using that tool, it saves the output to a subfolder of the TEMP folder.
Instead of manually copy and paste the content into the project folder, is it possible to set it up to save it automatically into the project folder instead of the Temp?
Thank you a zillion for this tool and for the help you will give me.
You sure the author of the plug-in (there seem to be at least a couple that might match your description and you didn’t provide a link) is reading this forum? Wouldn’t it be more effective to post to the Discussion or Issues section of the relevant GitHub repo?
There are currently 4 plugins for generating PCB Fab. output. Three of them (Aisler, PCB Way, NextPCB) seem to be made by those PCB Factories, while the JLC-Toolkit seems to be made by an enthusiastic user.
I’m wondering if it would be a good Idea to give these PCB manufacturers a separate tab in the plugin manager, Or maybe create a more general category that is for generating output and would also include BOM tools and PDF writers.
I have no idea if it would be better to create those categories early, or later, when there are much more plugins and organizing them further would probably be more difficult.
it’s Python. To me the fact that it’s saving on Temp instead of on the project folder, looks more an issue. Indeed from the code it should save right into the project folder. I hope he will get notice soon and he will update it. Because it really facilitate a lot
I think it suffices to show an author provided link for more information and documentation, otherwise it’s creating work for the PCM librarian to classify.
Perhaps a tag system for authors to self-classify and users to search so that it’s self-maintaining. The librarian could provide some seed tags.
Is it a good idea to balkanize fabrication data in fabricator-specific standards? Yes. For the fabricator. It ties users to them. I think KiCad users must insists that the fabricators accepts general standards. Where these are lacking the fabricators can point this out, make proposals and allow a discussion.
It is an oxymoron that open-source users should embrace proprietary standards proposed for monetary gain.
KiCad users must be able to output one set of fabrication data that is accepted by all.
Note the KiCad generates a massive amount of jobs, especially in the prototype standard segment. Second to none, but maybe to Altium. Speaking with one voice, KiCad users would be far stronger than even the big Chinese prototype fabricators. They should stop catering to their demands, up to the point that they demand from KiCad developers to work around bugs in JLCPCB’s Gerber software. This is ridiculous.
Maybe KiCad users must establish a fabrication special interests group that speaks with fabricators. You will be amazed at the power you wield as a group. And no doubt there are things that can improve in KiCad output too, and then the group can talk to developers, representing the fabricators point of view.
But developing fabricator specific outputs is surely not the way to go.
At the moment, JLCPCB has indicated that they do not wish to participate in the KiCad plugin repository, so I have developed a plugin to automate the production file processing.
It would be great if all the fabricators would use the same files, but it would take a lot of time and effort to create a single standard and convince all of them to use it.
I would be happy to save the production files in the project directory, but I did not found a way to retrieve the project root directory. If anyone know how to do it, let me know.
Although I have not clue how the update work within the Plugin manager. I mean: once an update is ready, doesn’t seem it exist a kind of highlight into it.
Hi Andy,
You are right that JLCPCB does not give a hoot about an individual customer, but a whole segment is a different matter. My guess is that KiCad generates 10-20% of their orders. JLCPCB will listen very carefully and act with Chinese speed if they feel this is at risk. If KiCad developers had not wasted their time in working around JLCPCB bugs, surely JLCPCB would have fixed them, and KiCad developers could have spent their time in improving KiCad.
I think we need a KiCad fabrication group that talks as a group. KiCad is freeware, its mission is to make our part of the world a little better, and I feel that KiCad users must help to make the world a little better, and not just think about this job I need now and I don;t care how. They should stick to the standards, and indeed choose another service if needed. Call me idealistic. But the whole open software movement shows idealism works.
I think you 're right, since JLCPCB is largely mention KiCAD on their pages. It means it’s an important percentage.
It will be great if a KiCAD group can negotiate automatic uploads for instance (by API), so that when a project is ready, by clicking it, the files are automatically sent (I know it’s way more complex than this, but it’s not an impossible thing, if JLCPCB gives the opportunity). Many things will be possible, in case of an organized Group that talks with JLCPCB
The plugin manager seems is missing the Updates highlight.
I know Benny released the new version of the KiCAD Fabrication Toolkit, that should solve this issue. 0.4.2
But into the plugin manager still the previous version. 0.3.2
I tried also to uninstall it and reinstall it. It’s always the previous version. 0.3.2
And as I said, it seems it’s missing the “Update” status
