Blog Post Actions
Group Actions
Engagement
Author: shabaz
Date Created:
Views: 5234
Likes: 7
Comments: 3
Related
Recommended

KiCad 6 Unofficial Quick Start Training / Guide Video

shabaz

Table of Contents

Introduction

Thanks to the productive KiCad time at Xmas with fellow element14 members helping work through understanding KiCAD 6.0, I've put together a video. It is a lot longer (50 minutes) than I wished, so I wasn't happy about that however it is all split into 30 clickable segments (there is a chapter list in YouTube), so at least the average is 90 seconds per topic I guess.. This might be better than 30 separate videos anyway since then there's the risk of a YouTube advert with each one.

Video Contents

Click to jump to the appropriate section:

00:00 - Start 00:27 - KiCad Control Panel 00:59 - Schematic Editor 01:12 - Preferences Configuration for Schematics 01:59 - Schematic Editor Shortcut Keys 02:27 - Schematic Editor Basic Usage 07:22 - Component Symbol Editor 08:29 - Component Symbol Editor 15:33 - Component Footprint Editor 22:03 - Shaped Pads 24:09 - Through-Hole Pads 24:38 - Plated Through-Hole Slots 25:14 - Shaped (Routed) Cuts or Holes 26:58 - Holes (Non-Plated-Through) 28:11 - Schematic Electrical Rules Check 29:10 - PCB Editor 33:38 - Shortcut Keys 37:29 - PCB Design Rules (Constraints) 37:40 - JLCPCB Design Rule Settings 37:49 - Copper Pours and Ground Planes 38:52 - Track Length Tuning 40:53 - Iterative PCB Layout Improvements 41:48 - Via Stitching 42:03 - Removing Solder Resist 42:27 - Checking for Unrouted Nets 42:37 - Running the PCB Design Rules Checker 44:01 - 3D Viewer 44:37 - Generating Gerber Files (CAM Files) 45:25 - JLCPCB Gerber File Settings 47:08 - Gerber Viewer 49:02 - Preparing the Zip File for the PCB Manufacturer 49:16 - Getting Help and Contributing

Naturally, it is still missing a lot (and totally missing everything on Python programmability and 2D/3D CAD) and, not all the content may be best practice, or I may have chosen longer/inefficient ways to do things, but this video is just an option to perhaps save newcomers a few hours hunting around for initial bits of info to get started.

Video: 

PCB Editor Configuration Screenshots

Here are screenshots of some of the important configuration windows in KiCad:

File->Board Setup->Design Rules->Constraints

The settings here are for JLC PCB:

File->Board Setup->Design Rules->Pre-defined Sizes

The settings here are convenient for tracks and vias:

File->Plot

The settings here are suitable for JLC PCB:

File->Plot->Generate Drill Files

The settings here are suitable for JLC PCB:

Anonymous

  • I finally got the PCB, this is what it looks like.. first purple PCB I've attempted from JLC PCB. The color is noticeably lighter than OSH Park boards, and the traces are more visible.

  • Great tutorial! This covers the entire PCB design using KiCAD. Loved it!

  • I didn't think it would work, but the segment links in the blog were surprisingly easy to get functioning. if anyone is curious, the procedure is to type the text below in the YouTube video description, in the format:

    00:00 - Start
xx:xx - My segment title
yy:yy - My next segment title

    (the first one has to start at 00:00 for this to work), and then once the video is published, on the normal user YouTube view, the description can be copy-pasted into the blog, and the links still function. I think I'm going to use that capability a lot more from now on.