Why do my Kicad drill holes print so small?

[Jidis]

Awesome! - Thanks Keefaz.

You don't by any chance know how to get those custom track widths to stick around from board to board like I was asking about do you?

Thanks again,

George

PS- That DRC thing is actually worded in the menu as "Enforce design rules when routing" in case anybody else ever needs it.

 

[keefaz]

No, I don't know about the track width size issue, I always set 2 or 3 sizes of track widths when I open a new pcb project

I didn't know DRC was worded so differently, I have the French version so in mine it is "DRC active" in Preferences > general menu

 

[Jidis]

I didn't know DRC was worded so differently

Well, judging by some of the tutorials and docs I've found online, this app seems to be somewhat of a moving target, so for all we know, last month it may have been "Turn DRC off".  8)

- Not knocking Kicad with that. I'm really enjoying my new app. Wish I had a big-ass paper manual for it.  :'(

George

PS- I'm still convinced they would have a way to save that trace pref. The single default seems a bit on the small side. I guess re-entering just a couple each time isn't all that bad, but I'd settle for an import command or something if it won't make them my defaults.

 

[gemini86]

That's exactly it.

 

[ramshackles]

Im sure my trace preferences are saved each time I start something new.... I have .508 and 1.27 in addition to the standard .254. Dont remember how I did it now

 

[Jidis]

Ramshackles,

If you can figure that out, please let me know. I just double checked and trace prefs do indeed seem to be saved into only the current project here.

Also, I notice Keefaz's auto-DRC check pref gets kicked back to "enabled" whenever I close out. 

Thanks,

George

 

[ramshackles]

If you go preferences - > save preferences and then load them in, does that capture everything??

 

[Jidis]

Unfortunately, no.

The DRC pref still reverts on close, even if I reload the pref I saved (which I guess is part of the project file?), and the custom trace settings are still locked into the project file and can't be loaded into any others.

We may be banging our heads into a wall on some of this stuff, as I guess it could actually be bugs, or just features they hadn't thought to implement yet. Once I'm situated with it, I may figure out how to report or request things.

Take Care

George

 

[keefaz]

The tracks widths are in the .brd file, not in the .pro project file (they are text files so with a text editor, it is easy to see where the settings are)

Maybe a solution would be to create a blank .brd file with the tracks widths settings, save it somewhere and use it as a template (eg open it and save it as another name) when creating a new pcb

 

[Jidis]

Maybe a solution would be to create a blank .brd file with the tracks widths settings, save it somewhere and use it as a template (eg open it and save it as another name) when creating a new pcb

Yeah, that should work, it just seems weird that their default would be a single trace size with no means of adding any.

George

 

[Jidis]

It won't let you connect anything because there are no nets assigned. OR, it will let you connect everything with no net assigned to everything else with no net assigned.

Well, I don't know what I just did wrong, but I managed to get it stuck while building a PCB with no schematic, where every resistor that went in was automatically tied in parallel to the others with airwires. Didn't seem to affect caps and DIL sockets in the layout, so I'm guessing it's not normal behavior. The wires aren't looking too easy to delete either.

I tried out the See Through Windows method. Getting the sizes to mesh between the floating window and Kicad is rough, and I probably didn't get them exact, but it already made it easier to throw the parts roughly where they belong. If I was using it to match a panel layout or mounting holes, I'd probably need to get a tighter method down for the resizing.

George

 

[Jidis]

I managed to get it stuck while building a PCB with no schematic, where every resistor that went in was automatically tied in parallel to the others with airwires

If anyone else should ever run into this, it appears to be something funky with the individual library module. The problem part was an "R3-5" resistor from the main (device?) library. An "R3" can be added properly with no connection. (- this is all while working in Pcbnew with no schematic)

George

 

[Andy Peters]

I managed to get it stuck while building a PCB with no schematic, where every resistor that went in was automatically tied in parallel to the others with airwires

If anyone else should ever run into this, it appears to be something funky with the individual library module. The problem part was an "R3-5" resistor from the main (device?) library. An "R3" can be added properly with no connection. (- this is all while working in Pcbnew with no schematic)

Never use library components you haven't vetted, or better yet, created yourself. A lot of the default Kicad footprints have problems.

-a

 

[Jidis]

Yeah, I'm trying to get the hang of that Andy. It's actually on the agenda for tonight (I need to draw two pots). I've edited a few footprints, but still need to get the hang of moving,copying and saving between libraries.

That resistor thing was weird though. The footprint itself was fine, it just had some kooky issue with automatically attaching wires in Pcbnew. If I started from a normal schematic, I could use the part, just not the way I was doing it on that particular project.

Take Care

 

[Jidis]

Have any of you guys that have been on Kicad a bit longer actually seen that "Automatically place all modules" function in Pcbnew work? Under best conditions, mine results in some random nonsense with some parts sitting outside the edge borders and the bulk of the parts still in one big pile.

I know getting a computer to layout my parts is kinda weak, but I just thought it would be interesting to watch.  8)

Thanks!

 

[Andy Peters]

Have any of you guys that have been on Kicad a bit longer actually seen that "Automatically place all modules" function in Pcbnew work? Under best conditions, mine results in some random nonsense with some parts sitting outside the edge borders and the bulk of the parts still in one big pile.

You always have to place the parts manually.

Generally, the placement is driven by mechanical constraints -- connectors have to go through holes in an enclosure, for instance. Once you've got those things fixed in place (and you should enable the "lock placement" feature for them), you have to start placing the other things.

-a

 

[ramshackles]

Have any of you guys that have been on Kicad a bit longer actually seen that "Automatically place all modules" function in Pcbnew work? Under best conditions, mine results in some random nonsense with some parts sitting outside the edge borders and the bulk of the parts still in one big pile.

I know getting a computer to layout my parts is kinda weak, but I just thought it would be interesting to watch.  8)

Thanks!

I find it useful to spread out the components across the board to start with (As when you read the netlist they are all on top of each other). The major drawback of it is that it can't rotate components, so it will never give you the 'best' layout.

It can be quite useful as a sort of guide. After I've laid out a few components, I'll lock them and then give it a whirl; generally the result is naff, but it makes me look at everything with a fresh perspective.

 

[Jidis]

Thanks Andy and Ramshackles.

I guess my hopes were too high for it. I got the impression from the description that it would calculate the most efficient paths for everything. I'll try doing some myself and letting it work out the remainder as you guys suggest next time.

Also (@Ramshackles)- There's a "Move all modules" in that Global Move context menu which seems to do its thing properly and spreads the pile out as you describe. The "Automatically place" one is the one I can't get anything useful from. The Move one is sort of counter intuitive, as it even has the 4-way directional arrows in the menu making it look like a "group" move/drag sort of function, like it's just going to relocate the whole pile rather than separate them.

George