Hi Burt,

Glad it worked out in the end, even if it's a bit of a fiddly process :-)

I've never tried diy solder mask, and the main supplier of soldering
products over here in the uK that I used (Mega) went out of business a
couple of years ago.

I have found one company in the UK that does the stuff:



I have never used it.

They may have a US distributor.

Your method with the mill etc may work OK (I don't have a cnc mill) but
my trials with the dry film show that you need a very good surface for it
to apply well. I clean and polish the board, then lightly wet it, and
apply the film. I used a wad of paper towel to squeegee out the water and
smooth the film, than a few passes through the laminator ensures that
it adheres nicely. This process does not like burrs and any raised edges
which any cutting and drilling may leave, So I do all that after the film
and etching.

Andy

On Sun, 13 Mar 2022 05:26:40 -0700
burt@... wrote:

Thanks Andy,

What worked for me was to mirror all the text on the Front Silk Screen layer, print non-mirrored to the transfer paper.? That gives the transferred silk screen with the components in the proper locations and the text transferred correctly.

Have you tried a DIY solder mask?? ?If so and you use the dry film method where did you get your solder mask film?

I'm looking for a supplier of the dry solder mask sensitized film but so far have only found one in Slovkia listed on eBay.? I was hoping to find another supplier here in the states, but no luck so far.? I have the UV solder mask paste but that is a bit of a pain to apply consistently.

I have been considering the sensitized photo resist film for some testing in the future.? ?My plan is to drill and cut out the PCB on my CNC mill, then apply the UV film, expose and process the resist and etch the board.

Burt

Thanks Andy,

What worked for me was to mirror all the text on the Front Silk Screen layer, print non-mirrored to the transfer paper.? That gives the transferred silk screen with the components in the proper locations and the text transferred correctly.


Have you tried a DIY solder mask?? ?If so and you use the dry film method where did you get your solder mask film?

I'm looking for a supplier of the dry solder mask sensitized film but so far have only found one in Slovkia listed on eBay.? I was hoping to find another supplier here in the states, but no luck so far.? I have the UV solder mask paste but that is a bit of a pain to apply consistently.

I have been considering the sensitized photo resist film for some testing in the future.? ?My plan is to drill and cut out the PCB on my CNC mill, then apply the UV film, expose and process the resist and etch the board.

Burt

Is there any guidance on developing and debugging plug-ins ??

Regards,
Dave

There is a specific page on OSHPARK for kicad:



Usually what you upload will be automatically checked and you can use
the viewer on the site to see if the result looks OK. I've never used
OSH, only JCL but the method is just about the same from the page above.

A zip file is one of many forms of archive file.

tar, tar.gz , lha , arc (I think the origional) and there are many
others.

zip is probably the most common format so use that.


Andy



On Sat, 5 Mar 2022 08:33:01 -0800
"Jeff Miller via groups.io" <jeffarcy@...> wrote:

Sent from Mail for Windows

From:
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2022 8:20 AM
To: KICAD-USERS@GROUPS
Subject: 83 YR OLD NEWBIE HELP

Good morning!? I’m using KICAD 5.1.9 on Windows 10. I’m using OSHPARK for the PWB’s.? I have completed a design, but don’t know what file(s) to send them.? Also, what is the difference between ARCHIVE and ZIP?
Thank you for any help,?? Jeff? (I may need a lot more help!)

Sent from Mail for Windows

开云体育

开云体育

Hi

About what files to send, ususally the gerber and drill files.

For details look in

Archive or ZIP is almost the same. By archive we mean a set of files compacted in a single one, ZIP is the most known and popular archive format.

Best regards

Jorge

开云体育

Hope it works Burt,

I've been using Kicad for a long time, version 2 or 3 I think.
I do recall that printing did have a few problems, early on, but once I
started to use the photo resist type boards I needed to mirror the output
so that the toner was in direct contact with the photoresist before UV
exposure. Which is exactly what you need for the silk screen.

I've been using plot to pdf for that method ever since.

I'm now trying out coating the boards myself with photo resist film,
which in addition to mirror needs a negative print as well (the film is a
positive type)

Andy


On Thu, 03 Mar 2022 17:10:14 -0800
burt@... wrote:

Thanks Andy,

I'll try plotting to PDF like you were doing.? When I just try printing the F.Silkscreen Mirrored the text is mirrored, but the footprints also appear to be flipped, and looking at how the silk screen would be transferred it definitely would not be correct in my case.

I did find a work around but it's a bit of a pain.? If I select all of the text on the Silkscreen layer, including all of the associated footprint references and click on mirror the text then when I print without selecting the mirror of the layer I get a proper transfer and after applying it to the PCB everything is correct, all the lettering is properly oriented and all of the components are in their proper locatinos.

So tomorrow I'll give it a shot with plotting to a PDF and see if that makes a difference.? Hoping it does for future boards.

Thanks again,
Burt

Thanks Andy,

I'll try plotting to PDF like you were doing.? When I just try printing the F.Silkscreen Mirrored the text is mirrored, but the footprints also appear to be flipped, and looking at how the silk screen would be transferred it definitely would not be correct in my case.

I did find a work around but it's a bit of a pain.? If I select all of the text on the Silkscreen layer, including all of the associated footprint references and click on mirror the text then when I print without selecting the mirror of the layer I get a proper transfer and after applying it to the PCB everything is correct, all the lettering is properly oriented and all of the components are in their proper locatinos.

So tomorrow I'll give it a shot with plotting to a PDF and see if that makes a difference.? Hoping it does for future boards.

Thanks again,
Burt

I've only just got kicad up and running due to a system rebuild (linux)
Also I've not yet used K6 in anger, However all you need is a mirrored
plot

I've just outputted the f-silkscreen of the demo PIC programmer project
and it looks correct. The print is all backwards, but printed on the
top of the paper, so when flipped over everything is as needed. Ready to
be transferred top the top of the board.

Now there is ONE difference which might be a clue. Because I'm a bit of a
cheapskate I tend to cut the film I use in half as most things I make
are less than A5 size and that means I need to move the print to a more
convenient location, so I've always PLOTTED to pdf rather than PRINTING.

It also helps that the linux printing system is basically a pdf format
anyway and is easy to manipulate.

I've attached the output pdf that it produced.

Andy


On Thu, 03 Mar 2022 13:00:42 -0800
burt@... wrote:

HI,

Just diving back into Kicad 6 after being away from it for a while.? Needed to do a small PCB which I've milled successfully and have tested.

Since this is a one off I'm not planning on sending it out to a board house and I just for fun wanted to try doing a silk screen using the toner transfer method.

In the PCB Editor the view is from the bottom of the board, but it looks like the F.Silkscreen is displaying as if it was on the bottom of the PCB.

So I tried printing the F.Silkscreen Mirrored.? But while that gives me horizontal text that would transfer OK the rest of the board is flipped as well so that is not going to work.

For example I have a connector that is in the upper left corner of the PCB (looking at the top of the PCB) and another connector that is about in the middle on the right hand side of the PCB.

The mirrored print of the F.Silkscreen layer has then one connector in the upper left corner and the other one in the middle on the right side.

But when you turn the printed layer over to transfer the toner to the PCB you now have the first connector in the upper RIGHT corner and the 2nd one in the middle on the LEFT side, which of course is incorrect.

If I print the F.Silkscreen without mirroring then it will transfer properly as far as component locations and vertical text, but horizontal text would be reversed.

So what am I missing?? Is there a way to do what I'm trying to accomplish?

I guess for now I can change all the horizontal text to vertical orientation and print without mirroring.

Thanks,
Burt

HI,

Just diving back into Kicad 6 after being away from it for a while.? Needed to do a small PCB which I've milled successfully and have tested.

Since this is a one off I'm not planning on sending it out to a board house and I just for fun wanted to try doing a silk screen using the toner transfer method.

In the PCB Editor the view is from the bottom of the board, but it looks like the F.Silkscreen is displaying as if it was on the bottom of the PCB.

So I tried printing the F.Silkscreen Mirrored.? But while that gives me horizontal text that would transfer OK the rest of the board is flipped as well so that is not going to work.

For example I have a connector that is in the upper left corner of the PCB (looking at the top of the PCB) and another connector that is about in the middle on the right hand side of the PCB.

The mirrored print of the F.Silkscreen layer has then one connector in the upper left corner and the other one in the middle on the right side.

But when you turn the printed layer over to transfer the toner to the PCB you now have the first connector in the upper RIGHT corner and the 2nd one in the middle on the LEFT side, which of course is incorrect.

If I print the F.Silkscreen without mirroring then it will transfer properly as far as component locations and vertical text, but horizontal text would be reversed.

So what am I missing?? Is there a way to do what I'm trying to accomplish?

I guess for now I can change all the horizontal text to vertical orientation and print without mirroring.

Thanks,
Burt

Normally, we don't do major version changes in stable Fedora releases, but because of several CVE's against 5.1.12, we are in the process of releasing KiCad 6.0.2 into Fedora 34 and 35.

Right now, the new builds for F34 and F35 are in the "testing" stage; here are links to the relevant bodhi pages:




I've set the karma requirements to "1", so if anyone using Fedora 34 or 35 is willing to test and up-vote, then we can distribute the new versions quickly. If not, they should be distributed after a 7 day delay.

While it is discouraged, if you want/need to stay on 5.1.12, you can edit /etc/dnf/dnf.conf and add the following line at the end of the file:

exclude=kicad*

That will prevent all further updates to KiCad - you will remain on 5.1.12 until you remove that line again.

Thanks,
Steve

"David" == David Slipper <softfoot@...> writes:

David> I have noticed that if the path name to a project contains
David> windows specific characters (eg spaces) when closing a project
David> it throws an error that it was unable to write to a backup
David> file.

David> Happens every time with v6.02 under win 10 64 bit.

David> There is no problem accessing schematics and pcb files or
David> symbols/footprints.

Can you open a problem report in the Kicad github repo? That would be
a good thing to do.

I have noticed that if the path name to a project contains windows specific characters (eg spaces) when closing a project it throws an error that it was unable to write to a backup file.

Happens every time with v6.02 under win 10 64 bit.

There is no problem accessing schematics and pcb files or symbols/footprints.

Dave

I have found the document on the .json file and the plugin structure.

I am more interested in how to trouble shoot plugins and any changes to the API(s)

Dave

What would the procedure be to convert a V5 plug-in to V6 ???

I have several I would like to use ...

Dave

These instructions work for V6 but not for V5 as far as I can see.

Time to upgrade ...

Thanks anyway.

Appearance sidebar > onjects tab

select / deselect zones

When printing DO NOT refill zones when asked.

Andy


On Fri, 25 Feb 2022 11:39:42 -0500
"brian" <brian@...> wrote:

Sorry, I am using 6 but I think it is the same. Look for zones.

On 2022-02-25 11:36 a.m., David Slipper wrote:

I looked there and there is not a separate layer for the "pours".

and I cannot see a? "print according to objects tab" anywhere.

I am using "Version: (5.1.12)-1, release build"

Dave


On 25/02/2022 14:27, brian wrote:

Pretty sure you can disable any layer via the appearance manager in PCB
Editor (Right hand side, objects tab) and select "print according to
objects tab".

On 2022-02-25 9:24 a.m., David Slipper wrote:

You can turn off the copper for the pour layer, but that hides the
tracks as well.

This would be very useful - is there any way to do this (other than by
deleting the pours before printing, my current work around) ???

Regards,
Dave

On left side panel you can switch between "Show filled areas of zones" and "Show only zone boundaries".

D.