Hello

I would like to ask if any link or information available for downloading KiCAD KLC as PDF?


-- Regards,
Victor

I am running Kicad v6.0.2 and am trying to use "Net highlighting" on my PCB but the button on the left toolbar is permanently greyed out ??

What am I doing wrong ??

The board is fully routed and passes DRC.

I tried the hotkey, but that does nothing.

Dave

On Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 04:14 PM, Konrad Rosenbaum wrote:

No, it was a lucky find on my part. Blind monkeys sometimes find a banana too... ;-)

Still a good find.? I had to really search for the thermal resistance, and it wasn't particularly useful when I found it.
?
--
Oz (in DFW) N1OZ

Final result using Custom Shape Primitives

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Hi,

On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 01:20 PM, Alan Pearce wrote:

This will allow the pads to produce the solder mask for each individual pin without having a long strip of solder.

My guess is that they expect solder along the strip, either for current capacity, thermal transfer, or both.

Correct, page 15 under "Layout Considerations" it says "Make sure to minimize the solder joint resistance at these VDD pins by applying solder along the whole length of the V DD bar[...]"

This entire section talks a lot about resistance, heat, thermal vias, PCB layers, etc. Utterly fascinating stuff, I wish I would understand it...

No, it was a lucky find on my part. Blind monkeys sometimes find a banana too... ;-)

??? Konrad

On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 01:20 PM, Alan Pearce wrote:

This will allow the pads to produce the solder mask for each individual pin without having a long strip of solder.

My guess is that they expect solder along the strip, either for current capacity, thermal transfer, or both.

This is one of those cases where you want a part in hand as the documentation is wholly inadequate. They do an excellent job of hiding the thermal resistance spec (in the pin configuration drawing, no where in the specification tables) and almost no information on the conditions required to obtain this number other than "JEDEC PCB" which while useful, is far from complete. AD used to do a better job.
?
--
Oz (in DFW) N1OZ

At least this will violate AD recommendation.
Also... do you have any PCB DRC errors about clearance?

UPD:

Found nice tutorial for creating custom primitives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSS_IRM5KIY

Hi Reinier
Thank you very much.
Your recommendation work well!



Any other ways for creating specific pads?
Unfortunately (AFAIK) KiCAD can not define polygon (or poly combination) as pin ... Am I right?
There are "Custom Shape Primitives" in "Pad Properties" Menu... But this tab content is not active.

-- Regards,
Victor

Hello,
There are LT4200 datasheet

Any idea how to create "comb pad" shape (outlined red)?
Can I draw shape like filled polygon and then assign as pad?
Or draw some rectangular primitives and merge them and finally convert to pad?
How to do it right way?

Best Regards, Victor

Thanks Andy,? I did locate a couple of other sellers here in the US, but they don't sell small quantities so if I use them I'd have to buy a lot of the dry film.? Since initially I just want to test it out I'll check out Fortex.

I already clean all the burrs and raised edges from the milling process.? Kind of need to do that for the UV solder mask paste process as well.

If I get some dry film solder mask I'll try your tips on what you found when working with it.

Burt

Hi Burt,

Glad it worked out in the end, even if it's a bit of a fiddly process :-)

I've never tried diy solder mask, and the main supplier of soldering
products over here in the uK that I used (Mega) went out of business a
couple of years ago.

I have found one company in the UK that does the stuff:



I have never used it.

They may have a US distributor.

Your method with the mill etc may work OK (I don't have a cnc mill) but
my trials with the dry film show that you need a very good surface for it
to apply well. I clean and polish the board, then lightly wet it, and
apply the film. I used a wad of paper towel to squeegee out the water and
smooth the film, than a few passes through the laminator ensures that
it adheres nicely. This process does not like burrs and any raised edges
which any cutting and drilling may leave, So I do all that after the film
and etching.

Andy

On Sun, 13 Mar 2022 05:26:40 -0700
burt@... wrote:

Thanks Andy,

What worked for me was to mirror all the text on the Front Silk Screen layer, print non-mirrored to the transfer paper.? That gives the transferred silk screen with the components in the proper locations and the text transferred correctly.

Have you tried a DIY solder mask?? ?If so and you use the dry film method where did you get your solder mask film?

I'm looking for a supplier of the dry solder mask sensitized film but so far have only found one in Slovkia listed on eBay.? I was hoping to find another supplier here in the states, but no luck so far.? I have the UV solder mask paste but that is a bit of a pain to apply consistently.

I have been considering the sensitized photo resist film for some testing in the future.? ?My plan is to drill and cut out the PCB on my CNC mill, then apply the UV film, expose and process the resist and etch the board.

Burt

Thanks Andy,

What worked for me was to mirror all the text on the Front Silk Screen layer, print non-mirrored to the transfer paper.? That gives the transferred silk screen with the components in the proper locations and the text transferred correctly.


Have you tried a DIY solder mask?? ?If so and you use the dry film method where did you get your solder mask film?

I'm looking for a supplier of the dry solder mask sensitized film but so far have only found one in Slovkia listed on eBay.? I was hoping to find another supplier here in the states, but no luck so far.? I have the UV solder mask paste but that is a bit of a pain to apply consistently.

I have been considering the sensitized photo resist film for some testing in the future.? ?My plan is to drill and cut out the PCB on my CNC mill, then apply the UV film, expose and process the resist and etch the board.

Burt

Is there any guidance on developing and debugging plug-ins ??

Regards,
Dave

There is a specific page on OSHPARK for kicad:



Usually what you upload will be automatically checked and you can use
the viewer on the site to see if the result looks OK. I've never used
OSH, only JCL but the method is just about the same from the page above.

A zip file is one of many forms of archive file.

tar, tar.gz , lha , arc (I think the origional) and there are many
others.

zip is probably the most common format so use that.


Andy



On Sat, 5 Mar 2022 08:33:01 -0800
"Jeff Miller via groups.io" <jeffarcy@...> wrote:

Sent from Mail for Windows

From:
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2022 8:20 AM
To: KICAD-USERS@GROUPS
Subject: 83 YR OLD NEWBIE HELP

Good morning!? I’m using KICAD 5.1.9 on Windows 10. I’m using OSHPARK for the PWB’s.? I have completed a design, but don’t know what file(s) to send them.? Also, what is the difference between ARCHIVE and ZIP?
Thank you for any help,?? Jeff? (I may need a lot more help!)

Sent from Mail for Windows

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Hi

About what files to send, ususally the gerber and drill files.

For details look in

Archive or ZIP is almost the same. By archive we mean a set of files compacted in a single one, ZIP is the most known and popular archive format.

Best regards

Jorge

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