KiCad

Can KiCAD export Fabrication & Assembly Drawings?

Asked by Ian Woloschin

I think this might be more of a feature request than a question, but here goes anyways :).

I've completed a project in KiCAD and shopped it out to a couple of places to get it built. Most seem to be happy with gerbers and a written description of board parameters (FR4, 4 layer, etc). One place is asking for "Fabrication & Assembly" drawings. For the "Fabrication" drawing the example provided looks like a combination of drill file & PCB parameters. The "Assembly" drawing looks like I might be able to create via the "Print" command in PCBNew, except that my board is tiny, and I can't figure out how to print just the PCB area at 2 or 3 times magnification, but still have the nice "CAD border" around the page.

Any thoughts?

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Lorenzo Marcantonio (l-marcantonio) said : 		#1

Have you tried plotting (for example to pdf) the silk layer with some 'appropriate' plot option?

For the magnified plot with the border IIRC this is not possible, since the scale factor magnifies the border too. Processing externally the plot files it probably could be done but it's not easy...

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Ian Woloschin (iwoloschin) said : 		#2

Hi Lorenzo,

I've basically done what you suggested. It does work well enough for now, but the end result is a little bit lacking. Of course, if I'm the first person to ask for this, then I'll go back into my corner and be happy with how everything else works! :)

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Oliver Kent (mail-oliver-kent) said : 		#3

I realise this is an old question, but its fairly high up on the google results page when searching for KiCad and assembly drawings, so I thought it might be worth putting my two cents in.

Typically when a CEM asks for assembly drawings, they want a box outline for each component, and the component ref written inside the box for each part - so at a glance they can easily see where each part goes. This isn't the same as you typical silkscreen artwork, as you often omit refs when there isn't room and its usually not usually underneath the component.

After experimenting with KiCad I have the best way way to generate assembly drawings is to modify each footprint to have a box outline on the F.Fab fab layer (make sure its top layer), and I added text on this layer "%R" which is replaced with the comp ref when its placed.

This means if you plot the F.Fab layer, you will get a box outline and the ref inside - and doesn't affect your silkscreen artwork. When you flip a part to the bottom side, the ref and outline box flips to the bottom fab layer B.Fab automatically.

I also duplicate the board outline onto the F.Fab and B.Fab layers, so it's included in the plot.

Its a bit of a pain to have to modify all your footprints, but hey. I don't like the existing ones anyway, so I make my own part libraries.

Can you help with this problem?

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