Convert silkscreen layer to copper layer? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: pion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2020, 08:03:58 pm
content: I'm using KiCad 5.1.6 to make a 2-layer PCB for printing on my Voltera V-One (https://www.voltera.io). Since the V-One is an additive PCB printer, I'm only able to deposit conductive traces on a bare substrate. This means that I can't use the standard silkscreen layers in KiCad to print component designators.What I would like to do is to print the silkscreen layer using the same conductive ink, i.e., treat the contents ofF.SilkSas equivalent toF.Cu, having already taking care to manually relocate the component designators away from traces and component pads. Is this something that I can do in KiCad? If so, how?A further complication is that I am using both top and bottom groundplanes, which are hatched pours, and some of my component designators are located within the fill area, while others are in an empty area, while still others straddle both. This may be asking too much, but does KiCad have a way to "invert" the contents of this new silkscreen-as-copper pour depending on whether it intersects with another copper layer? If not, I will create ground plane exclusion areas so that the silkscreen is always deposited onto bare substrate (and maybe this is a future feature that I will request from the KiCad developers).Thanks for any advice!

author: poeschlr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2020, 08:54:39 pm
content: I would suggest not to combine layers after the fact but to move the text fields onto F.Cu and let DRC help you with ensuring there is no problem. (Open the properties dialog of a text and just change the layer to be the copper layer)

author: pion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2020, 05:32:59 am
content: Quote from: poeschlr on July 06, 2020, 08:54:39 pmBrilliant, thanks poeschlr! This is a great workaround. I was initially put off by having to do these all one-at-a-time, but then I realized that I can use KiCad's "Edit Text and Graphic Properties" feature in the Edit menu with the scope set to "Footprint references," filtering items by layerF.SilkS, and setting the action to change layer toF.Cu. This movesallof the footprint references from the silkscreen to the copper layers without affecting anything else. I then deleted and re-created my copper fill zones for a new ground plane, which uses the DRC rules to smartly avoid all the footprint references as you said.It works well for now. Hopefully KiCad will add a dedicated feature to make this more straightforward in the future. Thanks again for your help!

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2020, 01:42:40 pm
content: This seems like a good reason to start mananging custom libraries. Especially for simple but often used components such as resistors and capacitors.You can move the silkscreen text on the "copper" layer in the library itself, so you do not have to change that for your next PCB.Using conductive ink for silkscreen is a significant limitation though.Have you considered modifying your machine to accept some felt tipped permanent marker pen?This seems such an obvious choice that it may already be available as a standard accessory, or that voltera company may design such a thing.The link below is to a plasma cutter for cutting sheet metal, and a marker is added to draw fold lines or possibly other notes on the sheet metal.https://hackaday.com/2020/04/10/plasma-cutter-sharpie-is-surprisingly-useful/