Public:KiCad

See ((PCB Design)) for design basics & guidelines. See ((GitHub)) for setting up the files you're going to work with.

KiCad is an open source e-cad program (electrical computer aided design) that we have been using since early 2018 to design our PCBs. It has many advantages over our previous e-cad software, Diptrace, most notably the file types all being special text files, basically, which play nice with ((GitHub)). It's also compatible with Windows, macOS, and many distributions of Linux!

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If you run into a step which is not listed in these instructions, you should probably follow the default or ask a channel on Slack about it. Please write down whatever you do in case it brings up new issues or improves things.

Initial Install & Run

1. Download the latest version of KiCad for your operating system (as of 10-18-18 this is 5.0.1)

• *If there are special instructions for that OS on KiCad's website, follow them
• *Otherwise it installs much like any other program (e.g. open/run the .exe file for Windows).

1. As you go through the install wizard menus, use the default options

• *You can optionally deselect the Help article languages you don't want, as well as deselect the Demonstration projects, since we have completed projects for you to look at already

1. Enjoy, and check this page as well as the KiCad help guide before asking about issues

Library Setup

Our libraries have now been moved to a submodule of the main. Make sure you've followed the [Github Setup] directions in order to get those libraries on your machine. They are in the Libraries folder of the PCB repo. When you first open a schematic in KiCad, without setting this up, you'll probably see a lot of question marks (?) all around the schematic. To fix this follow the below instructions.

(applies to KiCad 5.0)

Schematic Symbols

Assumes you have eeschema open with some schematic design.

1. Click on Preferences --> Configure Paths...
2. Change KICAD_SYMBOL_DIR (click on it and then "Edit") to the path of the Libraries folder
3. Click on Tools --> Edit Schematic Symbols...

• *If this is the first time you've run eeschema (or possibly after an update), it will ask you to "Configure Gloabl Symbol Library Table". Stick with the default and click Ok
• *If you get a whole bunch of errors, then hold the ESC key until they're done. At least you know you're in the right place to fix those!

1. Click on Preferences --> Manage Symbol Libraries...

• * Make sure you are on the Global Libraries tab for this initial setup

1. Select all (ctrl+A or cmd+A) the libraries that are there by default and remove them
2. Then click on Browse Libraries... <nowiki> --> </nowiki> navigate to the folder called schematic_kicad in the Libraries folder <nowiki> --> select all --> Click ''Open'' </nowiki>
3. AGAIN click Browse Libraries... <nowiki>--> </nowiki> navigate to the folder called schematic in the Libraries folder <nowiki> --> select all --> Click ''Open'' </nowiki>

• *Those are the custom ones we've made for solar car parts.

1. In the future, you can more easily get to the libraries list/menu and add things by just clicking Preferences --> Manage Symbol Libraries... from eeschema

Layout Footprints

Assumes you have Pcbnew open with or without some layout design

1. Click on Preferences --> Manage Symbol Libraries...

• * Make sure you are on the Global Libraries tab for this initial setup

In the future, we should probably setup the footprint libraries the same way as the schematic libraries, since KiCad developers are standardizing their organization.

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The .kicad Folder

All project are put together in one folder. This folder has the .kicad ending to make it easy to tell a KiCad project folder apart from a regular folder. The folder is named after your project, and should have the same name as the project file, top-level schematic, and PCB. An example name would be projectName.kicad

Files that belong on git

||File Name|Type|Status|Description

projectName.pro|KiCad Project Meta File|Required|This file contains information about the KiCad project. There can only be one project file per project! (If you see others associated with your hierarchical schematics, get rid of them and don't open your schematic files straight from your file browser.

projectName.sch|KiCad Schematic File|Required|This is the top-level schematic for the project. You can add additional schematic files to your project and include them as heirarchical schematics, or "schematics within a schematic"

projectName.kicad_pcb|KiCad PCB File|Required|This is the physical layout of your circuit board. There can only be one PCB per project!

projectName.sch|KiCad Schematic File|Optional|It is all right to have more than one schematic file. Since each schematic file is the size of one page of paper when printed, it is common to have multiple-page schematics for larger projects

projectName-cache.lib|KiCad Library File|Automatic|This file will be generated automatically by KiCad to store a local copy of schematic symbols. This lets you view the schematic even if the main libraries are unavailable (but should not replace using them!), and it protect you if symbols in a library change

symbols/|Folder|Optional|This folder contains any local symbol libraries you create. You can put stuff here that you don't want to commit to the main libraries, for example, a one-off symbol for a project that doesn't meet quality standards. See the Symbols Libraries section below for more information on what goes in here

footprints.pretty/|Folder|Optional|This folder contains any local component footprints you create. You can put stuff here that you don't wnat to commit to the main libraries. See the Footprint Libraries section for more information on what goes in here

models.3dshapes/|Folder|Optional|This folder contains 3D CAD models of components. See the 3D Model Libraries section for more information on what goes in here

bom.ini|BOM Settings File|Optional|This file is generated by the KiCad BOM generator plugin if it can't find a settings file. It contains information on how the BOM plugin parses the component list to generate the BOM||

Files that don't belong on git

Under construction

||File Name|Type|Description

schematicName.bak|KiCad Schematic Backup File|This file contains a backup of your schematic when it's saved. If you really mess something up and the previous git commit is not up-to-date at all (in this case, shame on you!), then you can change the name of this file to have a .sch ending and open it in KiCad

more to come!| | ||

Symbol Libraries

Under construction

Footprint Libraries

Under construction

3D Model Libraries

Under construction

Files 

Credit to Byron Hopps for the content pre- 10-07-18

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{REMARKSBOX(type="comment" title="Note")}As of KiCad v5.0 (what you should have installed) there is a BOM button. These instructions may not apply. If you know of instructions for that, please add/link them here.{REMARKSBOX}

Generating a Bill of Materials (BOM) from Kicad

Automatically generating a BOM from Kicad requires additional software in the form of a plugin. Fortunately, someone else has written one as opensource.

Procedure:

 

• For each component, perform the following in Eeschema

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• Go to the following link: Kicad BOM Generator
• *Clone/Download it onto your computer
• *Save it somewhere you’ll remember
• Follow instructions on page under Usage (repeated below)
• *Open Eeschema for your board
• *Click Tools > Generate Bill of Materials
• *Click Add Plugin
• *Browse to folder you saved, select kicad_bom_generator.py
• *Click Open
• *Type meaningful name
• To generate your BOM, just select the name that you typed in where it is listed under "Plugins" and then click "Generate"
• *By default, this will save an excel sheet in the same folder as your project

Instructions for Parser to be expanded upon later

Credit to Peter Leung for the content pre- 10-07-18

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