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KiCad 6.0.0

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Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#11

Post by bcantrill »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #7

Do any professionals here use it? I did some AutoCAD in high school and tried this years ago. It felt competent and less crashy than late 90s AutoCAD, but a little more awkward.

We are using it for essentially all of our prototype boards here at Oxide (low complexity, low layer count) -- and keeping a very close eye on it for our larger boards, where we still suffer from proprietary software. (And to be clear, when I say "suffer", I don't mean the mere principle but the true pathologies of proprietary software: license servers dying; licenses expiring incorrectly; software dying, costing lost work; formats being proprietary; etc. etc., all of which we saw over the course of building our boards.) We've been waiting for KiCAD 6 for a while, and while it's not yet to the point that we can use it for everything, it's definitely on the right trajectory!

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#12

Post by nikitaga »

As much as I love open source... I tried using KiCAD to design a PCB and have it assembled, but ultimately switched to EasyEDA – not because their app is better (it really isn't), but because of their smooth integrations.

EasyEDA is connected to a huge library of components (LCSC.com) with footprints and 3D shapes and everything, and built-in integration with their manufacturing service (JLCPCB.com) which uses those same LCSC components.

I'm sure you can design your PCB with KiCAD and have the result manufactured and assembled with JLCPCB, but having looked at the tutorials to make that happen, it's not a smooth process at all. I know little about these apps to suggest a solution, but making that easier / smoother / more obvious would go a long way to help hobbyists like me.

Now with KiCAD 6 there is a new plugin https://github.com/Bouni/kicad-jlcpcb-tools but I haven't used it yet. Eventually when it matures it will probably save a lot of annoyance.

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#13

Post by fpgaminer »

I recently learned KiCad and did some basic boards with it. It was a breeze; didn't run into any crashes, bugs, or major difficulties. I learned Eagle a few years ago, and from my vague memory I remember Eagle being a bit less obvious to use. KiCad felt straightforward in every way except maybe drawing the board cuts.

(I did run into one paper cut. The PCB DRC didn't flag unconnected nets; there's a second button next to Run DRC that checks for unconnected nets. :/ Cost me an hour wondering why my 5V rail wasn't working... )

Was also my first time using one of those cheap, small-run assembly houses. Absolutely incredible. My project was a tweak of an existing product (an RGB LED driver), and I was able to get my boards made and assembled for less than the retail product, even at a volume of 5 and with nicer parts. Crazy.

For anyone looking to learn KiCad, I used this video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7-8nUU6e3E

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#14

Post by meatmanek »

nikitaga wrote: post #12

As much as I love open source... I tried using KiCAD to design a PCB and have it assembled, but ultimately switched to EasyEDA – not because their app is better (it really isn't), but because of their smooth integrations. EasyEDA is connected to a huge library of components (LCSC.com) with footprints and 3D shapes and everything, and built-in integration with their manufacturing service (JLCPCB.com) which uses those…

Generating gerber and drill files for manufacturing is pretty straightforward in Kicad, but getting boards assembled with JLCPCB is a lot more annoying --- you need to associate LCSC (JLCPCB's supplier/sister company) part numbers with each component, and generate pick and place files. And inevitably you won't be able to get certain components from JLCPCB so you'll end up buying those separately and hand-soldering them anyway, so it can feel like it isn't worth all the hassle.

For simple one-off boards it's easiest to do that association in the JLCPCB order flow instead of in Kicad.

I agree, it's a lot less slick than the EasyEDA/JLCPCB integration, so for people just getting started with PCB design I would definitely recommend EasyEDA over Kicad.

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#15

Post by fortysixdegrees »

fpgaminer wrote: post #13

I recently learned KiCad and did some basic boards with it. It was a breeze; didn't run into any crashes, bugs, or major difficulties. I learned Eagle a few years ago, and from my vague memory I remember Eagle being a bit less obvious to use. KiCad felt straightforward in every way except maybe drawing the board cuts. (I did run into one paper cut. The PCB DRC didn't flag unconnected nets; there's a second button nex…

What assembly house did you use?

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#16

Post by mastax »

Yay! I've been watching the Kicad 6 burn down chart for a while, this is faster than I expected - looks like a lot of stuff got postponed?

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#17

Post by stavros »

fortysixdegrees wrote: post #15
fpgaminer wrote: post #13

I recently learned KiCad and did some basic boards with it. It was a breeze; didn't run into any crashes, bugs, or major difficulties. I learned Eagle a few years ago, and from my vague memory I remember Eagle being a bit less obvious to use. KiCad felt straightforward in every way except maybe drawing the board cuts. (I did run into one paper cut. The PCB DRC didn't flag unconnected nets; there's a second button nex…

What assembly house did you use?

I use JLCPCB for mine and am extremely satisfied.

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#18

Post by stavros »

fpgaminer wrote: post #13

I recently learned KiCad and did some basic boards with it. It was a breeze; didn't run into any crashes, bugs, or major difficulties. I learned Eagle a few years ago, and from my vague memory I remember Eagle being a bit less obvious to use. KiCad felt straightforward in every way except maybe drawing the board cuts. (I did run into one paper cut. The PCB DRC didn't flag unconnected nets; there's a second button nex…

I've been bitten by the DRC window before, but KiBot[0] renders that moot. I have it running as a pre-commit hook, and it generates my Gerbers and everything. That way, all this stuff is automated and I can't make a mistake.

Check out my project's config:

https://gitlab.com/stavros/esp32-cnc/-/blob/master/project.k...

I wholeheartedly recommend KiCAD, it's fantastic.

[0]: https://github.com/INTI-CMNB/KiBot#introduction

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#19

Post by stavros »

nikitaga wrote: post #12

As much as I love open source... I tried using KiCAD to design a PCB and have it assembled, but ultimately switched to EasyEDA – not because their app is better (it really isn't), but because of their smooth integrations. EasyEDA is connected to a huge library of components (LCSC.com) with footprints and 3D shapes and everything, and built-in integration with their manufacturing service (JLCPCB.com) which uses those…

Here's my KiBot config:

https://gitlab.com/stavros/esp32-cnc/-/blob/master/project.k...

It will automatically check your design and generate Gerbers and drill files for you. It will also generate a JLCPCB-compatible BOM that you can upload. All you need to do is add a field on each part called "JLC" in eeschema containing the LCSC part number.

Re: KiCad 6.0.0

#20

Post by stavros »

meatmanek wrote: post #14
nikitaga wrote: post #12

As much as I love open source... I tried using KiCAD to design a PCB and have it assembled, but ultimately switched to EasyEDA – not because their app is better (it really isn't), but because of their smooth integrations. EasyEDA is connected to a huge library of components (LCSC.com) with footprints and 3D shapes and everything, and built-in integration with their manufacturing service (JLCPCB.com) which uses those…

Generating gerber and drill files for manufacturing is pretty straightforward in Kicad, but getting boards assembled with JLCPCB is a lot more annoying --- you need to associate LCSC (JLCPCB's supplier/sister company) part numbers with each component, and generate pick and place files. And inevitably you won't be able to get certain components from JLCPCB so you'll end up buying those separately and hand-soldering th…

If they save me ten resistors/caps per board, that's already worth it.
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