Unexpected Panel Cutout Behavior

[gcormier]

Prerequisites

• I have read FAQ
• I use KiKit at least version 1.4.0 (older version are not supported)

KiKit version

1.4.0

KiCAD version

7.0.8

Operating system

Linux and Windows 11

Description

Note - I am getting the same output on my local Windows machine, and my Ubuntu GitHub (linux) pipeline.

Here is my board

Note in all cases, the top corners don't seem to be affected by the framing fillet: 1mm parameter.

Changing the value of the cutout parameter in tabs:

1mm (default)

2 weird cutouts on an angle

1.5mm

all 4 weird cutouts

2mm

Slot?

Notes

I've also tried to make this center cutout without a radius.

It does change the behavior slightly. The panel top corners are now rounded, and the cutout behavior is different (still broken?)

2mm

Changing the cutout to be all 90 degree corners, removing millradius - behavior not fixed.

Steps to Reproduce

kibot-panel.yaml.txt This is the kibot-panel.yaml I am using.

espairqual.kicad_pcb.txt PCB file.

kibot -c kibot-panel.yaml -b espairqual.kicad_pcb

[yaqwsx]

There were two problems:

• the fixed width tab compared floats exactly thus only one part of the tab was generated. Addressed by 3a33bba
• the partitionline-building algorithm didn't allow for boards with no spacing; this was addressed by 102e4cd. However, I am only 99% sure about correctness of this solution so it needs further testing before we make a release.

PS: When you report a bug, please, create a minimal example with inputs directly for KiKit. Transforming the inputs from for the developers unknown tool (in this case, KiBot) to KiKit and studying how KiBot translates and modifies the arguments takes extra precious time.

[gcormier]

Awesome, thanks for looking at this! Apologies about the KiBot file - will convert it to a native file to repro the issue next time.

Can I try out these changes with nightly container as described at https://yaqwsx.github.io/KiKit/v1.4/installation/docker/#mac-m1-containers ?

[gcormier]

Pulled the latest

pip install git+https://github.com/yaqwsx/KiKit.git

And looks great!

I know you have done it already, but I've attached the kikit json.

kikit-panel.json.txt

[set-soft]

Hi @gcormier !

Just to let you know that the current KiBot docker images should include @yaqwsx fixes.

The Debian package for KiKit with version 1.4.0-1 contains the above mentioned patches. And the images are created using it. The kibot-check tool should report KiKit v1.4.0.1. Note that the info output can log the kibot-check output, no need to call it manually in a workflow.

[gcormier]

Oh awesome, I thought I would have to wait until the next major release of KiKit. Great news, thanks! I just ran my GitHub KiBot pipeline and am getting proper panels created :)

[gcormier]

I think this is the best place to post this and possibly re-open? You mentioned it might need more testing and this might be related.

I am expecting to see cuts in pink on the 2 right PCB's

My suspicion is the logic from cutout is not checking backbones. It did behave as expected for the top/bottom rails.

Here is the kikit file I'm using.

kitpanel.json

Here is the PCB - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gcormier/esphome-pressure/main/pcb/esphome-pressure.kicad_pcb

My command:
kikit panelize -p kitpanel.json esphome-pressure.kicad_pcb ./out/panel.kicad_pcb

(This is using latest KiKit installed from pip pointed at git repo.)

[yaqwsx]

Backbones are not indeed checked (as internally, we don't perform cutout but shape the tab accordingly. We only add material, never remove it). This should be fixed.