KiCad

component placement in cutout through board

Asked by Magnus

Here is a SMD component which is meant to be mounted through the board in a cutout:
http://www.xppower.com/Portals/0/pdfs/SF_AG_Series.pdf?ver=2017-02-14-102557-653
This can be seen in the first picture on the spec sheet above.

How can I successfully do this with Kicad?

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Maciej Suminski (orsonmmz) said : 		#1

At one point it was possible to add Edge.Cuts lines in footprints, but it has been removed. The simplest way is to prepare a footprint for the component, place it on a board and draw Edge.Cuts lines around it.

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Magnus (toxup) said : 		#2

Thanks. Seems like an adequate workaround. I'm sure there was a good reason for removing this feature. Do PCB manufacturers simply not like when components are mounted through the board or?

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Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw) said : 		#3

There is a more intuitive work around in the footprint editor which I've tested. Draw the cutout using a CAD tool that can save DXF version R14 or earlier files then import the cutout on to the Edge.Cuts layer in the footprint editor. Pcbnew will include the Edge.Cuts layer from the footprint when you plot the gerber files. I'm not sure if there are any other caveats with DRC, zone filling, etc. using this method so you should be careful and make sure there are no issues with your layout.

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