The grid settings of the "Schematics" are "constantly changing" somehow to value different than the default 50 mils. This is really annoying. Is this a bug? Is there someone else experiencing the same issue?

Maybe read my previous post?

Hi J,
[How did you do that @CAMERART thing?]

I’ve been told about the shape of SYMBOLS before, but it’s taken weeks to get to this stage, and I don’t want to break my method, just now. I’ll try later thanks. (I copy the D/S shape)
C.

Hi J,
I had a re-think, and your sugestion is better, thanks.
C

Type @ and a list of about six contributors to the thread will appear.
Left click mouse on the contributor you wish to include.
If there are a large number of contributors to the thread and the one you wish to mention is not in the list, start typing their name after you have typed the @. Their name will soon appear, then click on it.

Sometimes, after drawing a symbol, placing it on the schematic, and connecting with wires, I have felt the schematic still looks messy.
I have been known to redraw the symbol more than once to make the wire connections less confusing.

I suppose it all depends on your someones OCD levels! :smiley:

@jmk (Hi J, That’s good!)

Have you heard of the snail climbing out of a well? It climes 3foot, then slides back 2. This is my modus operandus. I’ll have a try, almost get it, but fail. Cut and paste all of that into an OLD folder and start again.

I think OCD means my skills level? Using programs such as Kicad is not my best skill, and I program PICs, which is another. I can make the object with a PIC on easily, then spend years making the PCB and programming the PIC. Apart from a constant headache, I enjoy it, and really appreciate, help from forums such as this, as it gets me to do things, that are impossible.

Here is the latest itteration of the SCH, when I update the PCB, there are errors. This PINS on the BGA are too big, so I’ve got to go back to GO.
C

OCD means Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and is a severe mental disease, overshadowing one’s life…

Unfortunately it is used jokingly when someone wants to get things extremly right or wants to have things extremely orderly all the time. They mean no harm, however. It’s just thoughtless…

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@leoheck Hi L,

I’ve been having trouble with the GRID not aligning.
I’ve had to make my own SYMBOL in the editor.

The GRID keeps setting to one of my earlier choices, and even though I save it, I keep getting this.

In the SYMBOL editor under VIEW-> GRID settings keep checking that it shows ‘GRID 1.27mm (0.50)’ and watch this right through the process.
Good luck.
C

OCD = Obsessive, Compulsive Disorder, which in this context means “How neat and tidy does one want their Schematic?”

I used the wrong word here. “Your” is supposed to mean “anyones”. I tend to be a little “over the top” with Schematics and PCBs as far as OCD goes. :frowning_face:
I wish (and so does my wife) I could say the same about my household chores. :rofl:

@jmk
Hi J,
I see! In that case I don’t suffer from it :slight_smile:
I try though.
C

Someone else is having problems with grid. Maybe it is related with the sat version of Kicad.

Hi,
A couple of days ago, I fell off grid (PCB). Then read how to correct it, and posted above how to do that.
Now I’m off grid again! I’ve check the grid settings, read the @eelik FAQ (which pretty well confused me, as it’s miles too long to follow [just me?] ), then clicked the grid, the alignment etc tool like a chimp.
Now I have app 5x alignment marks on the screen, and no idea how to correct the grid.

One of the comments, said ‘He’s so used to it, that he didn’t know a long click was difficult’ Well it’s all difficult, and I judge a product by it simplicity, especially these days. I’ve just thrown away a good Sony radio because of the same problem (I have another that I can program in the dark)

I want to stay with Kicad, but I keep getting tempted away.

P.S Is there a different between off grid in SCH and PCB?

C, who’s still off grid.
**EDIT:**Ok, I’ve set a user grid to 0.2 and I’m back on grid, but that’s not what was advised previously?

The schematic and the PCB are very differrent with regarding to the grid. In the schematic the grid exists to make drawing and connecting wire/pin ends easier. In the PCB editor the grid exists to allow placing physical parts (footprints) and their connections, and also drawing graphics, in some meaningful way.

In the schematic there’s no correspondence between the geometry of drawings and some concrete, physical real-world entity. Therefore the grid exists solely to make drawing easier. Therefore you should use only a grid which doesn’t cause problems for making connections, which is 50 mils (assuming that all symbol pins use that same grid). And coordinates (x,y positions) should never be a problem, they are totally irrelevant. The simplest possible advice for the schematic and symbols is: never change the grid, keep 50mil grid.

In the PCB your goal is to create a physical board with physical dimensions and positions, and the grid is a tool which can be used to put things into certain positions. Sometimes you want to draw a board outline with certain width and height. Sometimes you want to put resistors in a grid formation in some location. Most often you need one common grid which allows placement and routing for most of the parts. Those different tasks can utilize different grids.

If you want to keep it simple, choose one grid size for the PCB which is small enough to allow drawing the edge outline dimensions, positioning all the parts, and routing the tracks. Depending on the size and used parts it may be for example 0.1mm, 0.2mm or 0.5mm. Then you can occasionally use a more coarse grid which is a multiple of the smaller basic grid. Never change the grid origin if you want to avoid all troubles.

…and set it to 127/127mm (5000/5000mil) to begin with. That accomodates both metric and imperial.

@eelik Hi E,
I was getting mixed up between grid and grid origin. When one get’s frustrated and tired, this is what happens. And my suggestion to keep it as short and simple still applies.

I have had quite complicated (Lots of details to remember) things explained by a small series of GIFs or images, this is miles easier for me, as reading long sentences, generally fails to convey what’s needed.
Thanks
C

There is an unknown bug or something that changes the grid every time randomly. This is what this thread is acknowledging.

Is it possible you are hitting the hotkey “N”? That tripped me up a bunch when I first started with KiCad until I disabled it in KiCad > Preferences > Hotkeys. Search for “Switch to next grid”, right click for context menu, and select “Clear Assigned Hotkey”.

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Yeah, I find myself accidentally pressing N quite often. By default, shift-N goes in the other direction I think.

Indeed, shortcut n is an excellent candidate to be the issue here, I appreciate this idea and I will try to track this.

However, sometimes I open the “Grid Settings” to Reset Grid Sizes since they may be messed up. And I see this setting that I posted on this comment here (picture). See, grid options 1 and 2 are sometimes “empty”.

image

What happens if this Fast Switching Grid 1 and Grid 2 are empty like the way they in this image here?

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