So, while working on a new board design I decided to learn KiCAD a bit more. I’ve detailed the board design and files in an upcoming post so keep an eye out for that one. Here’s I’m just documenting the process to make a board by exporting the design from KicAD and generating cut files in Fab Mods.
I came across a LOT of different methods looking at other Fab Academy students. Some had weird scaling issues or other problems. I’m showing how to use two different methods for producing and SVG file. Export–>SVG and plot as an SVG. I also show two ways of generating cut files, whether you are making Gcode for a generic CNC or you’re making an RML file for a Roland SRM-20. Note, I’m using KiCAD 5.4 on Windows 10 here.
In the examples below I’m using Quintin’s SAMD11C board found here.
Method 1: Export SVG directly from KiCAD to Mods
Method 2: Export an SVG using the “plot” function then convert to PNG for Mods:
Caveats and other important details:
I have rebuilt my shapeoko V1 as a PCB mill and so the difference between this and an SRM -20 Roland PCB mill is just what program you select from mods when you are creating the cut file.
If you aren’t running the websocket for fab Mods, you’ll need to replace the “websocket” module of the Roland programs with a “file save” as shown below:
Once you’ve exported the file you can follow this procedure on a Roland or other CNC machine to mill the board.
Once you populate the board, you can program this particular one with an Atmel ICE. Here’s the connections for that:
Connect up the atmel ICE programmer to the SAMD board. I used figure 3-8 from the atmel ice manual to figure out the pinout because we are using the Serial-Wire debug (SWD) pinout.
Pin 1 is Target Voltage (Vcc), pin 2 is SWDIO, pin 3 is GND, and pin 4 is SWDCLK. Pin 10 (Reset) is the back corner you can’t see.