Doesn't extrude multiple boards about kicadstepupmod HOT 11 CLOSED

Hi @morganrallen
KiCAD doesn't support multiple separated 'Edge.Cuts' board on a single .kicad_pcb file, so StepUp doesn't either.

What you could do is:

• make a single bigger 'Edge.Cut' and add 'V-scoring' to your pcb
• make a single bigger 'Edge.Cut' and add 'milling' and 'mouse-bites' to your pcb
• mix milling and scoring in your pcb

Some related discussion at KiCAD forum or from a manufacturer here:

1. https://forum.kicad.info/t/v-scoring-of-a-board/7237
2. https://forum.kicad.info/t/panelising-internal-edge-cuts/164
3. https://www.eurocircuits.com/panel-instructions-vcut-basics/

This may also be relevant to your needs:
https://forum.kicad.info/t/questions-about-a-mezzanine-implementation-in-kicad/2633

PS: I noticed you are using FC0.16... please consider to update it to FC0.17 which is the new stable release and it is much featured for mechanical integration.

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Interesting, weather it supports it or not, it does work. I've been making multipart boards for a little while now. Here's one example (don't have the source immediately at hand, here's OSHParks rendering)

When I first made this board KiCAD failed to render all 3 parts in the 3d viewer but it still worked. In the current version of KiCAD multiple part do render now and things like push-pull routing honor Edge.Cuts no matter how many there are. Here's the test piece from earlier rendered in KiCAD.

So, seems to support it just fine to me, unless there is something I'm missing. And personally, this would be pretty disappointing to not support this, as the single purpose to use StepUp was to help make 3D PCBs like this. https://hackaday.io/project/27788-lampster

(I saw 0.17 had been release but as usual Ubuntu is behind, found the PPA and using the newest now)

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When I first made this board KiCAD failed to render all 3 parts in the 3d viewer but it still worked.

that was the non supported part by KiCAD...

In the current version of KiCAD multiple part do render now

that is surprising me... never noticed they added this feature...

So, seems to support it just fine to me, unless there is something I'm missing.

a board with detached pcbs can be only produced handmade and cannot be produced in series... an automatic production is requiring attached boards produced in panels...
then it comes the 'mouse bites', milling and v-scoring' part

So, in general, I've never needed it nor any StepUp user asked for this feature before.

as the single purpose to use StepUp was to help make 3D PCBs like this https://hackaday.io/project/27788-lampster

Not indeed.. StepUp came in to make an ECAD MCAD collaboration, helping in designing the right enclosure for electronics designed using KiCAD. If you have complex multiboards, you can create a 3D counter part of each one and then assembly those in the 3D mechanical environment.

Anyway, ATM, you have still an option:
from your StepUp file in FC you can see the Sketch is complete with all your detached 'Edge.Cuts' outlines... then you can extrude it and use the extrusion as your 3D PCB... unfortunately you will miss drill holes, but Cutouts will be there as well as all your 3D models.
EDIT: or just split your multi-edge board in single sub-boards when you need to convert those to 3D model

I'm going to see if I can add also the ability to handle detached boards inside a single .kicad_pcb file, but I cannot promise anything because I don't want to break any previous compatibility or performance.

Maurice

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Hi @morganrallen ,
I've managed to get the full pcb built also when there the board has detached parts...

commit #105

Still I would suggest to use one of the following options:

• add scoring, milling or mouse-bites to your design

or

• once your pcb is complete, just save a single copy board withing each single detached pcb and do the conversions separately.

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Glad to see this was doable. Would it be possible to have it create individual objects for each part? That would then allow fit testing 3d assemblies. Thanks for the improvements so far.

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@morganrallen
ATM only one sketch and pcb is generated.
I see no way to discriminate the outline border from internal cuts (kicad does not either), so there is no straight way to produces detached pcbs.
Anyway you can achieve this by design, creating one file each board or doing a different approach to your design.
Have a look at

https://forum.kicad.info/t/kicad-stepup-the-sketcher-for-getting-to-blinky/7826
You should start your pcb edge design in FreeCAD and then using a push pull technique to tune your pcb.

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I see no way to discriminate the outline border from internal cuts (kicad does not either), so there is no straight way to produces detached pcbs.

Yeah, I noticed KiCAD doesn't seem to be able to handle this.

Anyway you can achieve this by design, creating one file each board or doing a different approach to your design.

That is overly complicated for my needs, what I found works is after importing with StepUp I duplicate the sketch once for each panel part then delete all the other content. A bit slow but it's working.

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Glad it works for you... Everyone have to find his/her way to work with StepUp tools ..
you may also have a try also to push-pull pcb edge between KiCad & FreeCAD... it is a good option to speed up your designs.

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That push/pull is my end goal, I would love to be able to select several faces and export them all at once but there is probably going to be some work before that's possible. I appreciate the support.

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I would love to be able to select several faces and export them all at once but there is probably going to be some work before that's possible.

I miss what you are trying to achieve.. would you please articulate it a bit more? or upload a screencast gif?

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@morganrallen I forgot to quote your name to ping your reply...

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