Hi all.
I am new to KiCad after using DipTrace for many years.
I ‘make’ most of my PCB’s on perfboard as to save money and they work OK.
I created my first schematic in KiCad and started the PCB layout only to find that KiCad does not have a way to put in wire links on a single sided PCB.
DipTrace uses a very simple way so that all you do is press J this places a pad then changes the layer, run the link, press J and all done. Can KiCad implement this system into PCB layout? How does one make a suggestion to the team?
I know others have suggested laying out as a 2 sided PCB using ‘large vias’ but it’s not the ‘real’ way of doing things.
I hope I haven’t offended anybody with my comments as I find that KiCad is a really good tool.
Thanks
Mike
I don’t see that using the second Cu layer as a jumper layer, and large vias or PTHs is not “real”. It works, no? Given that two Cu layer is now the basic offering I doubt if any effort will be put into one Cu layer support. But if you want to try to convince people the Feature Request Chat category is there.
Why not? What’s the difference?
Especially for home etching where you probably don’t have a soldermask.
And for:
I also make quick prototypes on perfboard / matrix board / proto board, whatever that stuff is called. I don’t do it for saving money, but for saving (turnaround) time, and for prototypes for which I don’t even know what the final circuit is going to be. Nothing wrong with that.
And I like doing the footprint placement in KiCad before I start soldering, and I also do most of the routing to see whether it’s “decent”. But due to the flexibility with such experimenters PCB’s, it’s easy to have as many crossing wires as you need, and this is so much different from a regular PCB, that I don’t see why you treat your design as a “single layer with wire jumpers”. It’s good to have a certain amount of discipline, order and neatness in your design, but if you exaggerate it becomes counter productive and is a waste of time. Some of the youtubers build breadboard circuits with all perfectly straight, flat and aligned wires. That’s a horrible time waster.
It’s called a 0-ohm resistor.
Just mount that.
OK
Thanks for the replies.
I’ll just have to get used to the change in laying out my boards.
Mike
KiCad does have some options, but it would require adding your wire bridges to the schematic and assigning footprints to them. KiCad does have an option for “free pads”, in which you can move pads of a footprint individually to the required size of your wire bridge. Blackcoffee has also made some 3D models of wire bridges. It’s up to you whether you want to go in that direction.
Yeah I did that originally, made new Symbols and Footprints but it makes the Schematic a confusing mess. That’s why I posted this question.
I will just layout the board as if it is a 2 sided PCB. I think this is the simplest solution.
Mike