I have the following 3 boards that I would like to manufacture. when I export it into Gerber it consider it as one board. How to split it into 3 separates boards?
First, your PCBâs look atrocious. PCB design is more then drawing some tracks and filling some zones. At the moment you donât have a decent GND plane on any of your PCBâs, and it would not require much work to put the tracks on one layer and using the other layer as a GND plane.
For your Gerbers. At the moment this is officially still ânot supportedâ. The simplest workaround probably is to:
- Save the project.
- Delete two of the PCBâs.
- Create Gerbers of the remaining PCB.
- Revert to the full project.
- Repeat from step two onwards for the other two PCBâs.
I know. This is the thing I always stuck at! I just donât know how to route a PCB⌠It looks too complicated⌠
Thanks this worked great!
Yes, thatâs pretty clear from your track layout. Itâs a typical example of a beginner letting an autorouter do the work without even trying to put some manual effort into the design.
Yes, looking at the layout thereâs not much that could be worse.
If you are willing to learn, you might try posting your design here (schematic and layout, in a new thread) and ask for feedback. Thatâs somewhat out of the focus of this forum, which is about using KiCad and not learning electronics. Still might be close enough to get valuable feedback.
Another option would be the beginner section of the eevblog forum https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/
Mabe final note: Doing proper PCB layout is 90% about placing the components. Actual routing is simple in many cases.
Typical result of just letting an autorouter ruin your board. Also see OPâs other thread:
Heâd have to do more then that. At the very least heâd have to show that he put in some effort from his side. An then still the answer is the same as the other layout reviews here. Footprint placement is indeed the main thing (Just look at R11 relative to U1 for example), and the second thing is the GND plane (Which I have already mentioned). When those two things get fixed, the design is probably already plenty much good.
Except for the third thing that really needs fixing, and that is the extremely small via size. I donât know what the via size is, but itâs extremely small and likely below the minimum (cheap) drill size. See the magnified section of the posted screenshot below.
Thin deep holes can be drilled, but they do cost extra because the drills are very fragile which slows down production.
@golkit1 donât take this too harshly. Many of us here have decades of experience, are professional designers or both.
As I said, post your design here and ask for a layout review. Worst thing that can happen is that the thread is locked for being off-topic (this forum is not intended to teach electronics).
I probably agree with that. My comments (criticism) is often interpreted more negatively then itâs meant.
But I also agree with RaptorUK & Eelik here. There are already plenty of PCB reviews here, and the suggestions for improvements are very much the same each time. Adding more reviews is not going to improve that.
I think the TO would definitely learn something from a review.
Should that be here? I donât know. Itâs partially basic PCB design and partially how to use KiCad.
For example letâs adress those microscopic tracks and vias. Just guessing, we might suggest 0.4 mm tracks and 0.6/1 mm vias. This leads to board setup, setting rules for the default class and so on. Maybe adding a power class with 1 mm tracks just for practise. Those are already a number of nontrivial KiCad specific tasks (where, when asked in the eevblog/beginner forum I might think: Why does this guy not ask in the KiCad forum?)
As to âwe had this 100 times alreadyâ: How often do we see questions like âI put this connector on the board and the pin spacing is slightly offâ? Look at it from the positive side: Those are all new users we can help with moderate effort, so why not do it? Or, what is the percentage of forum users that can benefit from yet another explanation of default netclass setup compared to those requiring via backdrilling?
Sorry, already too much OTâŚ
He would learn most from starting from an interest and willingness to learn.
Dumping parts on a PCB and letting an autorouter rip does not show such interest.
I did not read your post beyond that line.
Thanks for all the answers so far!
I understand thereâs some debate about whether this forum is meant for PCB design questions â but Iâll go ahead and share my schematic and basic PCB layout here in case anyoneâs open to giving feedback. If not, no harm done.
schematics:
Iâm using global labels (net ports?) so I can divide the schematic between two PCBs:
- The bottom board holds only components.
- The top board includes mostly front-panel elements â jacks and pots â along with a few regular components (resistors, capacitors) that fit closely around them.
here is the two pcbs with the way I placed the components:
bottom board:
top board:
bottom and top board close to each other (for better seeing the whole design):
Youâll really have to show youâve put in some effort from integrating the tips already given before I would be inclined to give any further advise.
At the moment Iâm more inclined to closing the thread as âoff topicâ then to making any other contribution.
more changes made regarding bottom board:
edit: regarding ground connection - if I get it right - No need to route tracks between ground pads because I should make ground pouring on both side of pcbs? this will âsaveâ me plenty of routing(?)
so I start again to route my pcb, I feel it is going much better. I use bottom track (blue) for vertical routing and top tack for horizontal routing.
in this scenario:
R3 lug 2 should be connected to R4 lug 2. they are much close apart. should I continue this connection ob the bottom part (blue line) or switch to the red line (top part) ? what would be a better choice in that case?
edit:
Here is my try to better routing the bottom board:
here is it with hiding the copper zone area for better seeing my routing:
Nope. Still garbage.
Throw away the auto router, do the routing manually on one layer and keep the other layer intact for the GND plane.
Also, the amount of screen posts you make does not help your cause. Sit back for a while, do some real studying and then create and post a proper PCB layout. I guess that for your first PCB this will take one or two days of work. After youâve done a handful, you can do a PCB of this complexity in an hour or two. (Including footprint placement, which takes more time then the routing on itself).
1 Like
There is no debate, this forum is for KiCad specific issues/questions. We try to be helpful as much as possible but our free time is not endless . . .
1 Like
You can have some tips on routing here.
2 Likes