Getting to Blinky 5.0 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 25, 2019, 06:42:08 pm
content: Chris Gammel just started a new series, Getting to Blinky for KiCad v5. A much needed introduction for new users! If new to KiCad I'd strongly recommend going through this, pausing as needed and following along yourself, doing exactly what Chris is doing.First introductory episode:

author: Peabody
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2019, 09:40:31 pm
content: I have a big problem with this, the same problem I run into with some of Dave's videos. I'm sure it looks fine on Chris' 32-inch monitor, but by the time it gets to my 15-inch 1080p laptop on a 720p video, all of the text is just too small to be readable. And it's very difficulr to follow what's going on when you can't see it. I just wish he would set DPI or font size or whatever so that everything is much bigger and readable on small displays.

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 27, 2019, 11:15:54 am
content: Also, the audio is too low.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 28, 2019, 04:59:27 pm
content: I noticed the first two episodes were re-uploaded, so maybe the audio was redone. I do agree 720p isn't enough to reproduce text. 1080p or 4K should be trivial to get from a screen capture and any 720p footage resized. 720p is fine for talking faces.

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 06, 2019, 07:52:17 am
content: My conclusion after watching all current episodes: rush job. I understand Chris has a commercial interest in selling his pay-for courses, but this is no good advertising, either.

author: koreamaniac101
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 05:00:27 pm
content: As someone who is learning PCB Design from this video series, I'm a little confused as to the video where he creates the traces on the board.He creates a copper pour on the front to connect all the VCC traces. He also creates a copper pour on the back to connect all the GND Traces.However, to connect the VCC on the front to the pads on the back, he creates a via that connects the front pour to the pads.In the pictures below from 3D viewer, it looks like this shorts the GND and VCC pours. Is this just an incorrect representation from the 3D viewer, or did I miss a step?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 06:43:43 pm
content: Quote from: koreamaniac101 on October 23, 2019, 05:00:27 pmNo, the views are rendered correctly. In the picture of the top side of the PCB, note the dark rings around each of the vias. In that area, the copper layer on the top is removed by etching (before the whole PCB is coated with green solder mask).So the vias are not connected to the pour on the front, only to the traces which go straight to the vias (and connect them with the component pads).

author: koreamaniac101
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 06:48:45 pm
content: I see what you mean for the other vias, but on the front, the vias near the upper corners are the ones that connect the front (VCC) pour to the back (GND) pour.I would've thought that on the back, there needs to be dark green around those vias to prevent the top pour from just shorting to the back pour.EDIT: I should note that the outer grey pads on the back side are the VCC pads.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 07:18:26 pm
content: Ah, right; I overlooked those. That does indeed seem like an error, either in the 3D rendering or in the PCB layout itself. One can the the last stub of the traces which go to the pads, but I agree that the pour needs to stay clear of the traces and the vias.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 08:11:48 pm
content: You can see that Chris goes to some effort to delete an extraneous trace, but did doing that fix the copper pour / via short problem, or has he cut that bit out? It looks that way from the continuity of the vid...

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 23, 2019, 09:16:51 pm
content: I recommend watching the digikey series about kicad 5.

author: HKJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2019, 05:04:01 pm
content: That error is probably because it has not redone the planes. KiCad will not automatic refresh/recalculate the planes when you place via's or parts, you have to press a key for that.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 24, 2019, 08:18:20 pm
content: Indeed. Hit the B key to refill.

author: koreamaniac101
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 25, 2019, 08:50:14 pm
content: Thank you guys so much! As soon as pressed B, the 3D model was correct. Just for future reference, when would I need to fill all the zones (press B)?

author: HKJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2019, 06:28:12 am
content: When you want the areas to show correctly and before generating gerbers.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2019, 03:43:33 pm
content: As a tip, there's an option in the DRC dialog to rebuild the zones upon DRC. I have grown an habit of running DRC before generating Gerbers, or 3D viewing, so I get both the zone updating and the DRC at the same time.

author: Docara
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2019, 02:36:42 pm
content: Don't know Chris Gammel but check out 'KiCad 5 Tutorial' on Johns Basement on YouTubeI found them fantastic.I learnt to be reasonably competent on KiCad on the back of them. We're up to number 32(ish) now and he's running out of topics to talk about LOL.I strongly suggest you check them out if you're new to KiCad