I thought I defined valid connections in the schematic,
but the cursor just “dances” around the pad (in the tube symbol) when using the wire tool…
That would be the indication the nets do not match between the track and the pad you’re trying to connect.
When routing tracks, KiCad highlights matching items (pads, other tracks of the same net).
Sorry, I was thinking of PCB.
In case of schematic, the pins of the symbol may just be off-grid.
See if your crosshair stops precisely on the pin ends (small circles around your tube symbol)
Done - Thanks. Added it to the post…
Typically I use (and most of us?? use) 50 mil setting in schematic grid when wiring the schematic. Are your symbol pins set on 25 mil or 50 mil increments? Can you shift the entire symbol so that the pins are all on 50 mil grid?
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Grid 25mils is not default for Schematic editor so it may be the culprit
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Typically, PCB’s and Schematic’s are done in US. 0.1" = 2.54mm and I set mine to 1/4 of that so I can dial-into things… Thus: 0.635mm
You’ll recognize that 0.1" is typical Pitch for Pins/Pads/Parts…
Change your Grid from US to Metric
The PROBLEM is your Grid setting (see screenshot below). If you placed items in US units, they will not be at Metric distances. Either move them so they snap or, redo your work…
Thanks for all the fantastic support…That grid change made it work!!!
This is of course OFF-topic so sorry, but I think I saw once in Youtube how people today could make their own electron tubes.
I like whatever is readily available for blowing up, er, experimentation. I used to delve in valves but only because they were current in those days. Transistors were not powerful enough yet to build audio amplifiers with. Heck, some common valve IDs are on the top of my head, EF86 for the input stage, dual EL84 (or the higher spec 7189) in push-pull for the power stage, ECC82 for the balanced driver of that. I wish I had kept one type of valve when I gave the remainder of my hoard, er, stock away, and that was the magic eye tube. Much cooler than VU meters. VFDs are the descendants of those.
Since ars longa vita brevis and there are too many rabbit holes to go down, my policy is to only build with what I have stashed or can readily buy. So I won’t go scouring eBay for antique stuff and these days some µC too are antiques. Retro items aren’t cheap so it’s easy for miserly me to resist.
As for CDs usually the first and only time I play the CD is in the computer’s DVD drive when I rip the tracks to AAC then listen to them via my computer. If the drive dies, replacements are readily available.
@retiredfeline: Several times I have wanted to private message you via this forum. Why is it that I cannot?
Ah I think I turned that off. On another forum I got very irritated when I got a flurry of email notifications because every carriage return the sender typed turned the sentence into a new message (it was a PM setting they didn’t notice) so I’ve disabled messaging on forums since. Unless it’s something between you and me, you could move the discussion to Community, it might be getting too off-topic for the OP’s question.
Yes nothing very personal…I don’t know how it could be because we don’t particularly know each other…but I wanted to mention something which probably-mildly does not belong on the forum. BTW I once tried to e-mail to retiredfeline@wordpress.com; that did not work either.
" Allow other users to send me personal messages" is a separate option. I get an email when someone sends a PM, but otherwise I don’t get emails from the forum.
I prefer no PMs at all from any forum. But I’ve messaged BobZ with my email address and we had an charming but off-topic exchange of tidbits about CDs and Internet radio. Also apparently if I initiate the messaging the recipient can reply, so that’ll do for me.
Wouldn’t it be better to arrange the pins on the tube symbol by function?
Have the two plates on the first row, then the grid pins, then the cathodes, and the heater pins on the bottom? (i.e., pins 2, 1, 3, 7 on the left side, and pins 5, 4, 6, 8 on the right)
It would allow a more logical arrangement to the schematic as well.
The last time (of very few) that I ever put a vacuum tube symbol in a schematic was long before the first time I used any sort of EDA. But at least for ICs it seems there has been ongoing disagreement as to whether the pins should be arranged in numerical order or some other order which suits the person drawing the schematic. When you have a 24 pin IC for example (something other than a multi unit gate or op amp) I find it helpful to have some sequential similarity between the symbol and the footprint. Trying to manually check the schematic against the layout can drive me nuts when the symbol pins are not drawn in numerical order. This does not apply for a quad comparator for example, and I guess there will never be widespread agreement on one better method.
Built-in symbols for dual triode tubes are designed as multi-part which is reasonable since the two triodes may be used in different circuit parts. This way, the schematic will be most readable if we don’t combine functionally separate devices in one symbol which mimics their common physical representation.