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kicad-make

Makefile for building a board revision. I've used the generated files with JLCPCB, Screaming Circuits, and OSHPark.

Setup

At a minimum you'll need the kicad-cli which is available with KiCAD 7+ some of the features here are only available in v8+. Depending on how you installed kicad this could be a whole bunch of places. Find it and add the location to your path.

Secondary Tools

For python tools you'll also need to set the PYTHONPATH to find the pcbnew.py library. For Ubuntu when using aptitude it should show up in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages. I add the following to my .zshrc / .bashrc.

PCBNEW_DIR=/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:${PCBNEW_DIR}

Install the subdirectories in the same python environment. If these outputs are not needed then remove the related lines.

git submodule update --init --recursive
cd libs/Board2Pdf/ && pip install .
cd libs/InteractiveHtmlBom/ && pip install .

Features

  • Runs DRC & ERC. If these do not pass than the manufacturing files won't be generated.
  • Includes both generic and JLCPCB targeted outputs

Generated Files

  • PDF Schematic
  • SVG board outline (edge cuts)
  • Gerbers w/ drill file & zipped gerbers
  • Interactive HTML BOM
  • STEP model of board
  • centroid w/ KiCAD and JLCPCB format
  • Full BOM and JLCPCB version
  • PDF gerber report with board2pdf

Notes

Semantic Versioning

We encourage using semantic numbering for board revisions. See the blog post https://www.maskset.net/blog/2023/02/26/semantic-versioning-for-hardware/ for the versioning scheme. As rolling the patch number ({Major}.{Minor}.{Patch}) is done to reflect BOM or manufacturing changes then the released board files will only be tied to the major & minor number. To reflect this we use {Major}.{Minor}.X as the board revision. You can use any version number you want though.

IBOM Version Number

The IBOM script uses the version number in the PCB title block in the filename. Note that this may be different than the declared version. We left this as your version should be the same and this acts as an easy indication you have a version issue.

Usage

You can copy or symlink the makefile into your project however I prefer to point to the file directly with makes -f command. The only usage requirements are:

  • All dependencies need to be on your path
  • make is called from the project directory
  • make finds the Makefile

Create a board revision

This is the default target and generates everything.

make -f kicad-make/Makefile PROJECT=<name of kicad project> REVISION=<revision number>

Skip DRC Check

Try to not do this too often... Exports everything, skipping ERC and DRC check.

make -f kicad-make/Makefile PROJECT=<name of kicad project> REVISION=<revision number> no-drc

Export schematic

make -f kicad-make/Makefile PROJECT=<name of kicad project> REVISION=<revision number> schematic

Example Usage

>> ls
project.kicad_pro   project.kicad_sch   project.kicad_pcb   project.kicad_prl

>> make -f kicad-make/Makefile PROJECT=project REVISION=0.1.X

>> ls
project.kicad_pro   project.kicad_sch   project.kicad_pcb                   project.kicad_prl
project_0.1.X.zip   project_0.1.X.pdf   project_0.1.X_interactive_bom.html  fab
mechanical

FIXME

  • Add mechanical drawing
  • Add renders of board top and bottom
  • Add testpoint report
  • Add check of critical parts placement