My recent experience with the Bald SENSE sensor feather wing project reminded me that time is often our most valuable resource. This video documents the journey that has taught me crucial lessons about design, assembly, and the value of turnkey PCB assembly services. See what went right and what went wrong, and how I ultimately brought this project back to life with the help of MacroFab.
KiCad 8 just dropped, and here are Bald Engineer’s eight must-try features! The February 2024 release brings a whole host of new stuff to the Schematic editor. However, the PCB editor, CLI, and Simulation tools also received attention. (There are something like 900 closed issues for the 8.0.0 Milestone!) Which of these is your favorite?
In mid-2021, I saw a demonstration of features for the upcoming KiCad 6. A statement caught me off guard: “the new copy/paste feature uses the system’s clipboard.” Then I watched as one of the developers copied from one KiCad instance into another. Immediately, that capability hit me as a game-changer. Not because the world’s oldest shortcut keys now work as we all expect, but because of the flexibility the method introduces! Actual text gets copied…
In KiCad, the INSERT key repeats the last command. This short repeats wires and labels. And labels get auto-incremented!
In KiCad 6 (and 5), the F8 key runs a special command. It automates annotating a schematic, generating a netlist, and loading it into PCBnew. Also the “Edit Symbol Fields” is a better tool for updating footprints than the actual “Assign Footprints” dialog! This video is the first one of a series of quick tips.
This video is part of a 3 part series, with the other two parts coming in the future. When it’s time to design a custom PCB for your project, you might be wondering how to design in an Arduino. This video shows the pieces that go into the schematic. The next video will show how to layout the PCB. And after the boards come back, I will show how to turn it on. Related Videos…
Part two of the DIY Arduino series. In this video, we create the PCB. Also, the project gets a new name: Pyramiduino. Watch the process to make a PCB in KiCad. And the Bald Engineer gives you a challenge, can you find the unconnected nets before he does? Check out Part 1 – the Schematic and subscribe to see when Part 3 – Turn On is posted. DIY Arduino PCB in KiCad Show Notes Pyramiduino…
