KiCad Board Setup has an option Plated board edge under the Board Finish settings. What does this change in the design with respect to file generation, DRC or anything? I could not find any documentation on how KiCad treats this option.
Image-1: Board Setup window
Image-2: No documentation on the
Plated board edge option.
We do use edge plating on our designs and our manufacturers can reliably do it. We just use one of the auxiliary layers to draw lines over the edges we need the plating to be applied on and tell the manufacturer to use that for the edge plating process.
My best assumption for the option is to show the same information when we place the Board Characteristics using the Place → Add Board Characteristics Option.
This ?
I suspect it’s just to show it correctly in the 3D viewer.
Yes, that’s edge plating. But does KiCad show edge plating in the 3D viewer? (I’ve never seen it) If yes, where does it get that information from?
I assumed that ticking that box and removing the clearance for a copper zone fill to the edge of the board would then show the edge plating in the 3D view . . . but it doesn’t (V9.0.1). There is no tool tip in that tick box either . . .
You are right, KiCad doesn’t support showing edge plating. I am planning to create a new feature request in GitLab to add support for edge plating in PCB and 3D Viewer. There can be a few ways to implement this.
-
Since Gerber does not support edge plating directly, just like castellations, it can be added as an “implied” feature. Whenever a pad perfectly intersects or cross the Edge-Cuts layer, it can be treated as an edge plating if the option is enabled in the Board Setup.
-
Another option is to be able to specify drawings or contents from one of the auxiliary layers as edge plating drawing. The drawings should perfectly intersect with the Edge-Cuts drawings. There can be a DRC rule for this.
