Thanks for the replies Andrew.
I've done as few manual routes before, but it can be a pain sometimes,
specially when you have a lot of parts.
Not to mention time consuming.
I like the auto router in Kicad, it usually does a good job, IMHO.
For a 2 sided board it seems to work fine, for me anyway.
Was looking for an easier way to do 1 sided boards, I like to
etch my own boards before sending off to a fab house, just to make sure they work. Was hoping I could get Kicad to do it for me.
I'll have to try your 'work arounds' and see if that works.
thanks.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew" <a_wake@...> wrote:
>
> Okay, I downloaded the latest version of KiCad (20100505) and tried it out. Wow, they have changed the interface around some!
>
> It looks like now you select the number of layers using the Design Rules / Layers Setup command. This will NOT let you select fewer than two layers. It looks like it ought to let you disable a layer, but these does not seem to work on the actual "copper" layers, only on the solder mask, silk screen, etc. layers.
>
> However, with a little experimenting it seems you can do a couple of things. 1) You can change one of the layers from "signal" to "jumper." When you autoroute, it will create vias for you to put in wire jumpers on the blank side of the board as needed. 2) You can display the Layers Manager toolbar (Preferences / Show Layers Manager). On the Layer tab of the tool bar, you can click on the box next to the layer you don't want routed (e.g., the front layer for a single-sided board with copper on the bottom). When you auto-route, it will still route tracks with vias, but won't route anything on the other layer.
>
> These work-arounds may not quite be what you are wanting. You could see if you could install an archive version of Kicad to get back to the ability to have a single layer. Or you could do what I do -- manually route. :)
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew" <a_wake@> wrote:
> >
> > I'm running on Ubuntu 10.4; the version of Kicad that I'm running is what was loaded from Synaptic Package Manager. I'll try downloading the latest version of Kicad and see what it does.
> >
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "acidblue" <sunblaster5@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Wow, that is interesting.
> > > I don't have that 'Layer' option in my version.
> > > That space is blank, I just have the 'Max Links' and 'Auto Save'.
> > > I'm using this on Ubuntu 9.10.
> > >
> > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew" <a_wake@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hmmm ... I'm running version 20090216. Surely they haven't taken this feature out in the newer version that you are running?? Just to be sure, here is a screenshot of the dialog that comes up when I click on Preferences/General in PCBnew:
> > > >
> > > > http://home.earthlink.net/~a_wake/screenshot.png
> > > >
> > > > Notice the section "Layers" with a set of radio buttons to choose 1, 2, 4, or more.
> > > >
> > > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "acidblue" <sunblaster5@> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > There isn't a 'Layer" section in the general settings.
> > > > > using Build 20100314 SVN-R2462-final
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew" <a_wake@> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > There are two answers to this question.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 1) Manually route, and just do so one the desired side of the board. I usually manually route most if not all of the traces on my boards; I'm rarely if ever satisfied with what the auto-routers come up with.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 2) Tell KiCad that your board is single layer only -- in PCBnew, click on Preferences, then on General. Click on the desired number of layers (1 in this case). Click okay, and you are good to go.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "acidblue" <sunblaster5@> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > How do I get Kicad to make traces just on one side of the PCB?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>