KiCAD 7 Autorouter - Simple Fast Prototyping

[@thorenscientific]

Awesome. I've been cranking out a board every couple of months for various work and fun related purposes, but my brain generates ideas at a board per week clip. I had been meaning to fire up KiCad autorouter for the longest time, now I'm armed and dangerous!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Haha The layoutinator, "I'll be back"

[@wizzardofwizzards]

Every bit as good as classroom instruction. Thank you Mr.T!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thanks Mark!

[@souradeep_pal]

I used it 3 years back ... was not very efficient but will give some idea. Looks like it improved a lot.

[@rahmatnur1887]

Thank you for helping me in making robotics selection easier in campus

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Glad to be of help!

[@desolatekd]

I found everything in single video. Thank you sir...

[@TheOleHermit]

Excellent instructions & perfect timing! Thank you! Just in the middle of laying out tracks on my 1st SMD PCB, with analogue audio op amps, a digital Teensy 4.1 MCU with an I2S CODEC IC, with 6 ADC inputs + 6 DAC outputs. IOW, I'm already in way over my head, have yet to learn about creating a ground plane or pour. This video explains everything I need to know (I hope) in order to complete the PCB. WooHoo!!🥳👏👏👏👏

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thanks man! I struggled to start using KiCAD, so I made the video after I finished my 1st PCB with it ;-)

[@Kaalkian]

please do more kicad 7 tutorial. these are short, clear and very educational!!!!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you for your request, I am not a PCB layout expert, but I could not find a simple instruction myself, after figuring out how to use KiCAD I realized it is a great PCB tool and made the video based on what I wanted to have before I started to use KiCAD ;-)

[@nokxu]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 Hi there! May I ask for your email, please? I would like to offer you a cooperation opportunity =)

[@qzorn4440]

And some KiCAD 8 videos. Thank you.

[@melanatedmoms5161]

WOW ! This is my very first time trying to design a PCB. Your tutorials helped me so much I am so grateful for your clear explanations and generosity with knowledge share. Thank you.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Glad it helped! I was new to KiCAD too actually I made a video about my journey ;-)

[@kurtamesbury6679]

This is the second of your KiCAD tutorials I've watched. I'm sold. Subscribe and upvote!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you for your positive comment!!

[@sirstrongarm]

Thank you! Exactly what I needed to speed up my prototyping process!

[@wimvander1427]

Great help to get me started with kicad autorouting. Thanks for your very explanitory kicad videos.

[@viktarsamuel586]

Extremely informative. It is difficult to find one like this now. Thanks for the video.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you, happy to hear that!

[@bansurishankar]

Very simple and clear explanation to newbies like me! thanks again and keep these videos coming !🙏

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you!

[@PCBWay]

What you are doing is really INFORMATIVE! 👍

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank You PCBWay!

[@PCBWay]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 DO more uploads, you deserve to be much seen!👍👍

[@MarkOfBitcoin]

Finally found a succinct yet thorough (a difficult balancing act!) on KiCAD autorouting. Thanks!!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thanks Mark!

[@phillipnewman9174]

Thank you for sharing this. It was very helpful to me.

[@OlehPatrushev]

Thank you. This is exactly what I was trying to find.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Good to hear that!

[@MicGoo101]

Very good explanation Thank You

[@PhG1961]

Very usefull indeed... my KiCad skills are improving!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Good to hear! It is anew feature to me too, and I will use it to finish my layouts.

[@viorelbianu875]

Very useful info, I'll try the AutoRouter. Thank you.

[@pettypavlow8330]

Sir please make a video for Simulate Circuit in Spice. I think this feature has been added lastly.

[@Facha115]

This tutorial is actually really good, thanks :D

[@zbubby1202]

Man I was so pumped until the dreaded "install JRE" came up...

[@williamdortch6441]

What's wrong with JRE? It's not reliable?

[@stevenalexander6262]

exactly the same here

[@DennisMurphey]

Excellent input we both liked the screaming, My Wife said that looked like my boards. We had a nice laugh. You move fast for this old brain but i usually get on the third round. Thank You I just knew this should be a feature. Dennis

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you for your nice comments, the video pace is fast to make sure the younger guys do not get bored, not so young myself;-). I use these breadboards a lot but they really cause a lot of problems, old school soldering is the best ;-)

[@robinsutcliffe_video_art]

Very informative and useful - Dank je wel!

[@andymouse]

Never use them myself but if I did this would be priceless !....cheers.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Same for me, but I will give it a try. it was worth the effort to find out how it works!

[@Jotaruiz30]

Excelente explicación, muchas gracias por compartir 👍

[@sumeetsharma8975]

Very well explained, thanks!

[@qzorn4440]

Wow, lots of helpful KiCAD 7/8 Autorouter information. I wonder how similiar the 3 methods are in making the tracks? 😎 Something to play with on the next PCB. Thank you.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you qzorn440! All 3 methods work the same on the background, it is just the installation/usage which is different 🙂

[@kashpatel9979]

Thank you for your tutorial, very well presented. It will come in very useful for my work 🤩

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Glad to hear it is useful for you!

[@gritchaidetphooprong4091]

Perfect video, thank you!

[@bogu2359]

Perfect vide, thank you!

[@geekthesteve6215]

Good video, clear concise and does a good job presenting the information so someone who has used autorouting before can apply immediately. I am wondering if you can use the autorouter to only route selected tracks interactively? This used to be a feature of the autorouter in the older PCB package on Linux/Unix where you could select one or more tracks to autoroute. I used this for boards that I wanted to route some tracks manually while routing others (such as bus lines) using the autorouter. Anyone know if this is a feature and if so how to perform such routing?

[@TechBerto173]

Thanks for sharing this video, I will try it in my project.

[@naidol]

Excellent. You made this easy for me to understand. I use EasyEda cuz I got so frustrated by KiCad. Now I am willing to give KiCad a second try. Well done sir. Can you do another video about component library and BOM generation. As novice I find EasyEda simple to use but too many jumping around to produce PCB with KiCad.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Glad it helped!

[@tomasbarzola2360]

Super simple and works perfectly, thank you!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thanks Tomas!

[@miguelangelaguilar]

Brilliant !!!. A great help. 😊

[@Dheazzo]

How do I lock the traces to the components so that u can move them around without having them disconnected

[@joaopaivasantos]

Hi! Thank you for your tutorials! About the Eclipse Temurin version... I noticed there are more reecent ones. Should we keep with the version 17?

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Hi Joao, I am pretty sure the newer version will work but I did not try that, so I mentioned the version that worked for me.

[@hiteshb5606]

what to do if I have to increase the width of the power track?

[@Alex123-x2b]

Oh Hello, How can i do for one symbol to have two footprint? PTH and SMD, like you have for that IC Ty :D

[@joeltraju9920]

Bro which method is more preferred one?

[@maxichannel9080]

Hello. Can you tell me how to choose an arbitrary orientation for my track in kicad, for me it is always at an angle of 45 degrees and I want it to be at an angle of 90 degrees, is it possible to do something so that I can change the angle of the track over time? work, for example, like in Sprint Layout when you press the space bar?

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Hi Maxichannel, when you are placing a track you can right click and change the track angle mode. Or (better) use the shortcut: press + to change the track angle mode, it will toggle from 45 degree to rounded, to 90 degree.

[@maxichannel9080]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 Thank you very match!

[@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials]

02:50 it appears the button on the main toolbar as well.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Yes you are right 🙂, also board setup (previous video) is available on the toolbar.

[@dantwomey]

Very, very well done!

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank you Dantwomey!

[@silnyye4403]

If possible, please do more KiCAD tutorial like how change thickness of PCB, add multiple layers, add a 3d model, add an already made PCB in an ongoing project in 3d viewer just to show connections(if possible) and so on. Thank you in advance!

[@carever2000]

if I want routing only one layer?

[@johanwolbink1516]

Hello, I have installed Freerouting as you showed in your video but if a start Freerouting in Kicad 7.0 I see a short time (6 sec) a rounded blua screen and the PCB is not routed. What can be wrong ?

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Did you try to install the "offline" version(option3)?

[@johanwolbink1516]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 Yes. I have try all 3 version's.

[@johanwolbink1516]

And I have try it on a Linux and a Windows computer.

[@Ryukachoo]

This is almost perfect BUT is there a way to specify a "no route zone" on a specific copper layer in autorouter so it doesn't try to put any lines across? there's a specific footprint I'm using which autorouter keeps putting lines over or across and i cant seem to make it stop doing that i'm ok with it using layer 2 to route but not layer 1 edit: answered my own question, you can do it by using a rule area (keepout) and specifying which layer to be excluded. the autorouter will respect it

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Hi Rykachoo! You you can create a keep out zone in the pcb editor before you start the autorouter: In PCB editor: place, add rule area (or crtl+shift+K) 1-select the layours to be kept out (e.g. F.Cu,B.Cu) 2-select what to keep out: e.g. tracks, vias, pads, fills) 3-click OK and draw the keepout zone shape 4-finish drawing with double click (cancel with esc) I never used it with the autorouter, please let me know if that worked!

[@Ryukachoo]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 it only sorta of worked, it seems to block everything in the auto router, meaning if it's placed directly over pads the router can't even make a connection I do wonder if there's a way to allow for connection bu, prevent traces from traveling alongside long lines of pads

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

You can select which layers are not allowed in that area, maybe you need to create complicate polygon for your keep out zone.

[@Gustavo-px6te]

mano me salvou muito te amo

[@engineerUkr]

Дякую , спробую.

[@mukz7447]

Is it possible to make it auto rout for single layer only?

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

I think so, just do not use top layer, so no ttracks, vias and pin through holes. Not sure how to deal with pin through holes in footprints, you can chnage the footprints or jiust remove the layer from the gerber file ;-) pls confirm with your PCB vendor that you want single layer, default is 2-layer.

[@vladimirpakholyuk423]

Thank you sir :)

[@RixtronixLAB]

Nice video, thanks :)

[@balexfox]

very helpfull good job

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thank youuu!

[@sassi7190]

very useful

[@21thTek]

Great !! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

5-star rating! thanks man 🙂

[@unknow8547]

Thank you, bro.

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

UR welcome!

[@DavidAmorimNascimento]

Tank you so much...

[@fellpower]

I get sooo many errors on that. Didnt work

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Hi Fellpower, what kind of errors? Routing errors or system errors? Did you try the "offline" method with a DSN file?

[@psialt9720]

Don't mislead people, Javascript is not the same thing as Java

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

@@psialt9720 you have an eye for detail, I mentioned “JavaScript’ on screen , the JRE is Java, these are different things for sure🙃

[@bobby9568]

The accent though..

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thanks for the compliment ;-)

[@bobby9568]

@@smartpowerelectronics8779 you dutch people are racists, fake smiles, still implementing slavery in different ways...

[@fooballers7883]

Useful info. thank you

[@smartpowerelectronics8779]

Thx Foo Ballers!