So, I have made a schematic symbol for the mounting holes that I can add to the schematic. I find this very handy, as I will not have to add manually the holes to my PCB.
I think others are using a similar approach, too.
I was now thinking about how far I could go with this. Would it make sense to add other things too, just to have them in the BOM?
For example, I am thinking now about preparing different footprints for board shapes that I often use, and also place them as “non electrical” symbols on the schematic, such that I can even select several different, predefined board outlines from the schematic. For instance, if I am using a funny shape for my PCB, like PCI cards and such. Does anybody use a similar approach?
I am also thinking about how far this could go and what would make sense. For instance, one could also add caps for switches, the case, or screws, but after a certain degree it gets silly, so I am wondering how others do it.
For instance, in the one company where I worked, we had the company logo, certain labels and stuff also as schematic symbols with a footprint attached, such that the components get imported to the PCB automatically.
I am using a database library, so I have linked everything already with manufacturer part numbers and such, so if I generate the BOM, all is included already which is very handy.
KiCad has it’s own versions of this. KiCad has a “Graphic” library for symbols, and a “Symbol” library with footprints for things like KiCad logo’s and various other standardized logo’s such as “Open Source Hardware”, “RoHS”, “CE”, “FCC” and quite a lot more.
KiCad does have partial support for off-board items. Think for example about switches and potentiometers that are placed in a front panel and connected with wires and connectors to the PCB. You can set symbol properties for such to “Exclude from board”.
So true. You would not want to manage all the parts of a car in a KiCad project for the leftside rear blinking light. My own limit would be based around estimated part count. Adding a chassis mounted mains entry with power switch and off-board transformer is something I would add to a KiCad schematic. But for an industrial control panel that has a front panel of 50 buttons, switches and LED’s that are mounted off board, I would likely handle outside of KiCad.
On the opposite site. I have once drawn an electro mechanical schematic for a CNC controller in KiCad. It has:
Power supplies.
Nema 23 stepper motor drivers (and motors).
Frequency inverter with 1.5kW motor and mains filter.
DIN rails with a few contactors and smaller relays.
Pumps for water cooling of the motor, and for the cooling liquid.
Fans.
Some more stuff…
And this all worked quite well in KiCad. If you draw a lot of such schematics, then there is better suited software out there, but if you build such a system once (or every few years) then having to find, (pay for), install and learn other software is a hurdle you can avoid. And I was quite happy with the result in KiCad. I had to draw most of the symbols myself, but KiCad’s symbol editor is quite good and this was no problem for me.
I have a similar approach:
in the board schematic i place symbols for everything attached to the board, like heatsinks and fixing screws, insulators, holes, PCB, labels, fuses, and so on.
For complete systems i also do a KC schematic with board(s), enclosure, cables, panel components, fans…