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.
Re:KiCad 6.0.0
by fortysixdegrees on Friday December 24, 2021 @06:55PM
(#29678954)
What assembly house did you use?
JLCPCB; turn time has been about a week and then a few days for DHL to drop it at my door. Their website is very buggy, and the placement preview is useless, but they do have a real engineer review everything before assembly so all my boards have been assembled correctly thus far. They even caught one of my mistakes before.
I recommend finding parts using LCSC's website (their parts supplier), as it has more useful parametric search. Then cross reference to JLC's to double check pricing and availability.
Re:KiCad 6.0.0
by fortysixdegrees on Friday December 24, 2021 @08:08PM
(#29679352)
Interesting. I'm flirting with the idea of ordering boards with all the easy to get discretes on there then finishing by baking on the hard to get chips I have in stock with lower temp solder paste. I would need to cut out the parts of the solder mask with components on there, or maybe I can do that at the Gerber phase
(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