There are at least two different plugins that (claim to) help with panelization. Kikit and the sparkfun panelizer. I have not used them myself and do not know how well they work (or at all).
From left to right
Add the mouse bite
place it in position
Adjust the wire which runs through it and snap to the appropiate corner
add 2nd wire to fill the hole.
Make sure that all things snap, one tiny hole and the board has a defective outline. You can find where this happens with the DRC.
Bas
This might just work! I will test and report back later
The problem with these plugins is that they were meant to panelize one particular board over and over, I’m trying to combine 3 boards using panelization techniques to then print on one board.
There is at least one paneliser that can combine different boards: GitHub - ThisIsNotRocketScience/GerberTools: Tools to load/edit/create/panelizer sets of gerber files
It’s written in C# though, and works best with Windows. Running under Mono on Linux was iffy.
this looks interesting! I will take a gander, although I’m not sure which piece of the tool actually does what you say. Maybe GerberCombiner? Little to no usage instructions
It’s in front of your eyes: GerberPanelizer.
The fab is well aware that you are trying to dodge setup fees and will find a way to charge you anyway in their T&Cs
I did a few panelisations in the past few years but these days with cheap shipping bringing the cost delivered per PCB to $0.7, it’s not worth my while. I don’t need 10 or 15 of a design, 5 suffices to blow up my components. 
There are some designs that do require panelisation. An example is a SOP to DIP adaptor, you’d have lots of tiny boards if made singly.
Actually trying to dodge having to do 3 separate orders for 3 PCBs and save them some work combining them, and making multiple stencils… In the original post I mention 3 PCBs each of their own complex shapes. this saves on overall fab space and reduces PCB materials. I’m not trying to “panelize” more than I’m trying to combine.
It’s like placing a square and a circle on the same board, and printing them in one order, instead of two. Like a chip and a HAT for the chip. You get the idea. The fab calls them “Different Design” usually
They already combine lots of unrelated designs on large, typically 600 mm, panels. That’s how hobbyists benefit from the unused margins.Watch one of the many YouTube videos showing a PCB factory.
But you can ask them to combine shipping for several jobs.
Indeed. And for those pooling services, they generally do not like to combine customer panels because their software has more choices and works better if it can combine a lot of small PCB’s then for fewer but bigger (rectangular) panels. And because of this you often have to pay extra for such panels. You do not save them any work. It’s just software that does the nesting. Below an example of such a big panel from Oshpark.
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Different shapes are not the big problem. Here is how I have once (with KiCad V5) done one my prototype so then I could order it as single PCB:
And some details:
I use 2mm gap between PCBs. The rest if needed you should be able to measure from picture.
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Oh interesting! I would have to play around with the edge cuts a lot because I have a lot of curves or very slight curves, at least. I think I’ve consigned to just put in a combined order of 3 things, I think places like JLCPCB combine those into one shipping
You can also let your PCB manufacturer do the panelization. Often you can then also order a stencil for the whole panel, and you can re-order the PCB’s from the same gerbers.
You can also download the Gerbers for the whole panel, so it does not even restrict you to go to the same PCB manufacturer if you want to order another batch.
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I think you mean resigned.
Consign: “assign; commit decisively or permanently.”
More proper to say “consigned myself” but whatever. you get the point
From my experiences @jlcpcb it is not that much cheaper to order small panels instead of separated PCBs. They do charge a fee for having multiple designs in one panel.
Especially if one uses SMD assembly and the others do not, split the order.
I also thought that the shipping costs at jlcpcb are related to weight. I don’t place orders per 500pcb with or without panels for comparison tho. So you can atleast upload things and see what it actually costs before deciding.
And ofcourse the one small drawback of panels are… mouse bites. I for instance make boxes from PCB and than this matters. But ofcourse you make a PCB where PCBs are ment for, this is no issue. I personally don’t like to sand things.
Kind regards,
Bas
Some years ago, Microcirtec refused to process my panel designs and deleted my address from the customers list. I am using a commercial panelizer GerbTool to merge designs from Kicad, Eagle, Altium and Mentor.
You can create something as simple as a dxf showing how to create the panel. This dxf would show the shape and position of the three designs, where you want the mouse bites, and any handling frame that you might want. This could be enough.
Then the manufacturer would combine the Gerbers following that dxf.
Obviously this is not available for “PCB pool” services.
As others mentioned not sure if this approach would save you much money, unless big volume.
And you can run into problems with the depanelisation process or making the assembly more complicated…
There are some tools to combine Gerbers manually as well. (Others have mentioned this)
In any case, check with the assembler first (unless you are assembling the board yourself)