Tag: Kicad

Use Templates In Kicad V6 To Save Time | Voltlog 400

Welcome to a new Voltlog, yes it’s number 400, it’s been a great journey so far, thank you for being a subscriber and for all of the support that I have received so far. If you enjoy these videos please consider hitting the like button as that is a great feedback for me.

Now back to the topic of this video, I’m gonna show you how to create project templates in Kicad V6. I’ve noticed there isn’t much info available on Youtube on this topic and yet I find this a very useful feature.

You might ask yourself what project templates are and whether you need them or not. Well the answer depends, but if you work on a lot of different projects that share a common starting point, like say for example how I’m creating multiple internet of things boards and modules that all have some parts in common like the ESP32 processor, the VoltLink connector for programming the boards as well as a few other bits and pieces like decoupling capacitors, pull-up resistors, mounting holes, fiducials, board config, schematic config and the list can go on and on depending on the particular setup that you are running and the projects that you are building.

Kicad V6 First Impressions | Voltlog 399

Welcome to a new Voltlog and I’m gonna start with a question: why should you care about Kicad and what it’s most recent version is like? Well, there is a very simple reason, if you are a subscriber of the channel I have to assume you are a supporter of open-source software and hardware and Kicad is probably the world’s best open-source printer circuit board CAD program. 

I have been using Kicad for the past 2 years and it’s been a great journey and if there is one thing I would ask is that if you have been using Kicad and you are getting good use out of it, please consider sending donation by going to kicad.org and hitting the Donate button. This will help fund the small team behind Kicad to continue releasing new and improved versions of Kicad.

So now back to the subject of the video, I’ve been using Kicad version 5 in it’s different releases for a while and I’ve gotten used to how things are done in Kicad but just before Christmas they released version 6 which brings a bunch of improvements. Depending on your workflow you might experience these improvements directly or not, hence why I’m not covering the whole list of upgrades and improvements in this video, just stuff that I have noticed while using the new Kicad V6.

I’m gonna start with probably the biggest change in Kicad V6, which is in the file format, that is definitely an under the hood change and one that not many people would care about, including myself but there could be great benefits coming up from this change, because the new file format should allow for easier handling of Kicad files by plugins and external tools. There is also a minor downside to this, once you convert a project and save it in the Kicad V6 format you can’t use it with V5 anymore but I don’t see why you would want to go back.

Voltlog #287 – Switching From Eagle To Kicad

Welcome to a new Voltlog, today I’m gonna talk a bit about my process of switching from EagleCad to Kicad. So i’ve been an EagleCAD user for years, I’ve practically learned how to do pcb layout in eagle cad so there is that emotional attachment to a piece of software because it’s what I used while developing this skill. And to be honest there wasn’t any better alternative years ago, Eagle was the first decent piece of cad software to offer a freeware license and it quickly became popular for hobbyists. It didn’t have all the bells and whistles of the expensive software like Altium or Candece but it did the job while being user friendly.

Since it quickly became popular for makers and hobbyists it also meant there was an abundance of support on the forums as well as many user generated scripts and libraries freely available. It was similar to the popularity Arduino got but it was never open source and if you needed some extra features like 4 layer layout or pcb sizes larger than 8x10cm you needed to pay for a license.