Removing kinks in traces - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 07:03:19 pm
content: Newbie... How do I remove kinks in traces.... ?I was hoping the nodes/line segments would simplify themselves as I drag (G)?UPDATE: Using D seems to work a bit better.... I think nodes might self destruct when they 'fold' together.... not sure.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 07:34:54 pm
content: And also... how do I avoid dog leg bits?

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 09:23:19 pm
content: Making a long list of remarks of things that are obvious to anyone who has even mediocre experience with KiCad is just silly.I'm not going to waste my time on your first experiments with KiCad and I suggest you take some time to figure out how things work in KiCad on your own.If you then get stuck somehow on something not so trivial there are lots of people (including me) who want to help, especially onhttps://forum.kicad.info/Some extra pointers for info:The KiCad manuals themselves (under the help button in the main menu) have quite good info on lot's of KiCad topics, and on the KiCad forum there is a FAQ section which has turned into quite extensive explanation of lot's of details.And of course also Eric Steven Raymond's essay:http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 10:11:39 pm
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on April 01, 2020, 09:23:19 pmQuote from: Doctorandus_P on April 01, 2020, 09:23:19 pm/ThanksForTheSupport

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 10:56:17 pm
content: Don't know about KiCad. In Eagle, the problem is usually the "caps" on the end of traces. The choices are round (default) and "flat." You may want to find whether you can make traces have flat ends.Edit: In reference to "dog leg bits," not the original squiggles.

author: tox3
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2020, 06:32:45 am
content: Bottom layer trace can be fixed by drawing new trace from pad to VIA. It should delete old trace. After making new trace you can also select old trace with "U" key while holding mouse pointer over it and delete it.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2020, 08:56:11 am
content: It seems KiCAD (I'm used to another package) has a few routing modes and the rules differ between them.I foundwhich is quite interesting, possibly a bit old, for the more interactive modes.There seems to be some confusion for me coming from a world where there are segments, traces and nets and the segments, traces and nets all are closely related. (So for instance you can change a trace width and the whole trace changes in one).In KiCad the nomenclature appears to be a bit mixed... so if you select a track you get a segment (the disambiguate dialog calls segments "track"), I know it is a "segment" because at the bottom it says "segment length". Anyway...For single segments the drag behaviour seems determined by where you select. i.e. if you select an end you get different behaviour from when you are in the middle. It would be nice to find a description of the behaviour but I haven't been able to locate it in the documentation yet.I haven't figured out the opposite of "break track" yet... maybe you need to delete the segments and redraw the track?In the more advanced routing modes this is less of a problem as the kinks mostly look after themselves.There also seems to be a significant difference from what I am used to in that redundant traces get removed... so drawing a new track over the top without kinks replaces the old one.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2020, 09:15:46 am
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on April 01, 2020, 09:23:19 pmBut you are going to waste everybody's time reading your non-answer?!I appreciate ESR's essay and have written my own version of it, and quite understand you aren't going to give a full explanation. But...However, you could easily have provided a few short words indicating search terms and/or tutorial names or anything that woulddirectthe OP's own research.

author: Mr Evil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2020, 05:41:35 pm
content: Quote from: NivagSwerdna on April 02, 2020, 08:56:11 amI know of 3 ways to merge two segments into one:Drag a node on top of an adjacent nodeDrag a node so that it's exactly in-line with the two nodes on either side.Use "Cleanup Tracks And Vias", which deletes nodes that are in-line like the previous rule, but haven't been deleted already becasue they were never dragged.

author: Clear as mud
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2020, 12:31:04 pm
content: I am not sure about your first question, but the second one about the "dog leg bits" could be caused by working with two different grid settings. So, the second segment doesn't align with the end of the first because it is snapped to a different grid. Figure out which grid you want to use to draw the majority of your traces, and then re-draw the trace using only that grid setting.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2020, 02:16:37 pm
content: Quote from: Clear as mud on April 05, 2020, 12:31:04 pmI think you might be on to something there! I also discovered that there is a flash/snap thing going on which helps.