Question about Edge Cuts

The question about Edge Catz is that despite being connected, they show as Unconnected. Can I ignore this?

And the silkscreen is cut off! I can also ignore that, since I inserted a section at this point for better isolation?


Grüße

If DRC says the outline is not a closed shape you have to fix it before you submit the board for fabrication, or it will be rejected.

I think from my poor German that it’s saying it’s not a closed shape. So you have to fix it. Draw the lines again, or use the rectangle tool, for example.

So there it says that it is not a closed form, but at the same time he writes that the curve with the end on the straight line intersects at the end.
After all, the lines should connect to get a closed edge.

Sometimes (for example faulty DXF export / import) two lines are drawn right on top of each other, and KiCad does not like that.

To check, (make sure you have a backup) make all layers except Edge.Cuts invisible, and then must move the lines aside one by one.
When finished, exit the PCB editor without saving and open it again to get the lines back where they were.

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The question about Edge Catz is that despite being connected, they show as Unconnected. Can I ignore this?

No. This drc-check is essential for a correct board-file (gerber-output) so this error must always be corrected.
possible error-reasons:

  • doubled shapes (see paul)
  • shapes are slightly off by few micrometers Don’t judge the “lines are connected” based on a optical view. Just few micrometers (not visible with eye) offset are enough to get the “edge.cuts not closed” error.
  • if the edge.cuts shape is imported from dfx: problems with bezier elements and some arcs are known

And the silkscreen is cut off! I can also ignore that, since I inserted a section at this point for better isolation?

Yes. These DRC-error is just a optical issue (like most drc-checks regarding silkscreen) - so you must decide if you can live with silkscreen cutoff at board edge or not. I personal have completely disabled this drc-check - far too many false positive warnings.

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Or, to say it more pedantically accurately, the gerber output follows the graphics Edge.Cuts pretty much exactly, and the manufacturer needs a gerber layer for the outline which they can feed (through some conversion) to their machines to actually route or cut the edge. They don’t want to guess or fix your outline lest they go awfully wrong. The graphics in Edge.Cuts must be unambiguously translatable to one closed continuous route. There’s some tolerance but not much.

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Thank you for your answer.
I think I have my board ready now.




I am open to suggestions for improvement.

Grüße

Increase the isolation distance between F2 and the ground plane on both sides significantly. There is plenty of room and there is no benefit in just having a bare minimum or even too small distance between mains and secondary low voltage side!


I increased the distance to F2 and added another notch.

The lighter green is your ground plane. It is copper that is connected to your secondary side. You have to move the edge of that copper plane on both sides where it is closest to F2.
The way you put the new notch it is inside the copper plane, and doesn’t have any effect on the isolation distance.

Upon closer comparison of the two versions I see that you did move the copper plane furter away from F2. I would still move it further.

But the additional notch / slot you added is inside the copper plane still, which was what I saw first. It will not help you at all.

Try to keep at least 10mm between primary and secondary as a rule of thumb, preferrably as far as you can. You still have some space left to move the copper plane closer to the secondary transformer pin, and also move the edge of the plane closer to J3, further away from RV1 and the primary connections of the transformer.

If you need to certify, that is, if it is a commercial design, you have to consider all applicable standards.

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This is private and does not have to be certified. I just try to make neat boards and avoid mistakes.
I have another question, what kind of pin headers are these and where can I get the counterparts?

You can get them lots of places. Lots of styles. Even colors. :wink: This is just an example:

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/pin-headers.html

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