I was designing a board using a 1.27 mm grid, and while the lines were aligned to this grid, unfortunately, three of the components could not be aligned with the chosen grid that I had used throughout my entire design process. Why did this happen, and is there any solution??
Hi @rayan
The 1.27 mm (50 mil) grid is used for aligning Symbols in the Schematic Editor, not for footprints in the PCB Editor.
Hello, if we select a grid, will the entire line and footprint align with that grid? If not, how can we align the footprint and line? Thank you
No. First, there are metric and banana units.
The US has adopted the metric system in 1875, but adoption is going a bit slow. Metrication in the United States - Wikipedia
But on top of that, when you get to small passive part, the pitch between the pads becomes a weird (non rounded) number. In KiCad, the easiest way to grab a footprint is by a pad or by itās own anchor point. And after a movement, the point you choose to grab the footprint will be put on your grid. So if you want to line up some resistors, the easiest way is to grab each of them by the same point. If you grabbed some by the left side pad, and others by the right side pad, then they wonāt line up, no matter what grid you use.
KiCad also has the context menu with alignment tools. First make a selection, then right click and Align / Distribute from the context menu, but I do find this a bit cumbersome to use. Just knowing that it matters how you grab a footprint when you start a move is usually enough.
Additionally, it also helps a bit if you do not set your grid too fine. On a relatively coarse grid, alignment is either perfect, or off by so much itās obvious.
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What do you understand by footprint align:
- its center point,
- its pad1 center,
- its courtyard box edge?
If inside footprint dimensions between its center, pads and box are not integer multiple of your grid than whatever you will be doing you wouldnāt be able to set everything in the grid.
All my footprints have courtyard box in 0.1mm grid (relative to their center point) and Iām using 0.1mm grid when working so I place footprints touching each other with their boxes (pads are not placed in grid).
But to position 5.08 raster terminal blocks I temporarily use 0.01mm grid (or 1.27 or 2.54).
Not long ago I was asking TI what a heal is doing (and what it means) in their datasheet the unit that I read as micro-Mega-HOs (Ī¼MHOs) where micro cancels with Mega giving only HOs. And I supposed āsā at the end was used as indicator of plural number so the used unit (for amplifier gain) was HO.
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As I found it those time it was replaced by S something about 130 years ago. In this DCDC IC datasheet it was first time I sow it as I was not born more than 130 years ago 
After my mail TI issued next datasheet version and it was replaced by Ī¼S.
Iām trying to align the connector footprint in a specific direction, as shown in my screenshot. To do this, I set my board grid to 1.27mm and position the footprints accordingly. I also draw the F.Silk line from the first arranged footprint to help position everything consistently. Unfortunately, some components still donāt align the way I desire.
I realize this might not be the best approach. Could anyone suggest a better alternative for achieving precise alignment in KiCad?
Iām trying to align the connector footprint in a specific direction, as shown in my screenshot. To do this, I set my board grid to 1.27mm and position the footprints accordingly. I also draw the F.Silk line
from the first arranged footprint to help position everything consistently. Unfortunately, some components still donāt align the way I desire.
I realize this might not be the best approach. Could anyone suggest a better alternative for achieving precise alignment in KiCad?
You have written a lot of things like:
But you donāt mention which direction.
or:
But how do you desire to align them?
Your screenshots show nothing to me. Itās just a mish mash of all sorts of things, but there it does not show your intention.
If your intention is to align connectors on different PCBās so they align with each other, then it is usually simplest to put the connector pins on a simple coarse grid (1.27mm would be just fine.)
KiCad does have a function that I find quite annoying. It is nearly impossible to move a footprint for a short distance because KiCad tends to snap to the old position. This can sometimes be helpful if you want to move a footprint horizontally or vertically (then KiCad keeps your footprint aligned with either the previous X or Y coordinate, but it makes small corrective movements nearly impossible. My workaround / solution is to move the footprint twice. First you move it a bunch of millimeters diagonally (as long as both X and Y coordinates change), and then move it back again, but to the new correct position.
Me too.
It is also possible that OP has set in preferences restriction of movements to 90Ā° what perfectly prevents you from moving footprints where you want them.
This sounds like a two-pin passive component which amplifies current and raises voltage.
Kicad Symbols are standardised, so one grid fits all.
Kicad Footprints reflect the Manufacturers products, so there is very little standardisation. The way to align footprints is to change grids. It is possible that you may need to change grids very many times while working on a single PCB.
The normal workflow is to move as many footprints as possible to the position you want them, then change the grid to something finer (or different) to move others. Then change back again when those others are aligned to the first group. Maybe the grid needs to change 10 times for 10 different footprints.
There is a list of about 30 selectable grids available to use in the Grid box at the top centre of your screen, but if what you need is not listed, make a new, suitable grid for a footprint movement with the āEdit Gridsā.
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