I'm not terribly thrilled about adding this to the print dialog. Plotting is definitely more accurate than printing although I wont completely rule it out. I make a lot of prototype boards and I've found through trial and error the plotting is the way to go. Adding a redundant print feature that is less accurate than the plot version doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Remember, our target audience is not hobbyists. That is not to say that a novel feature aimed at hobbyists wouldn't be included in KiCad, it's just that this is not novel feature.
On 6/12/2016 11:34 AM, Chris Pavlina wrote: > This is already available in the Plot dialog: "Do not tent vias". Other devs, > what do you think about adding it to Print as well? > > On Sun, Jun 12, 2016 at 05:25:21PM +0200, Cheng Sheng wrote: >> Hi KiCad Developers, >> >> I made a feature for my own hobbyist use (to etch my own PCB boards). I >> don't know how much the community welcomes such hobbyist-oriented features. >> So I'd like to ask the mail-list before I send out a pull request. Guess >> the answer leans positive because I already saw some hobbyist-friendly >> features inside the "File->Print" dialog of pcbnew (eg., small drill). >> >> The use-case: vias of hobby-etched PCBs are usually hand-soldered with a >> wire (I suppose most hobbyists don't eletroplate their through-holes), thus >> needs to be exposed on the solder mask layers. Currently, the printed >> images don't have vias on the solder mask layers. >> >> (It is still doable on the current version to produce a desired F.Mask or >> B.Mask image by hacking the Gerber files, by overlaying a hacked drill file >> on a mask Gerber file, and exporting in the Gerber viewer. But this is too >> many steps to do.) >> >> Happily finding how easy it is to compile KiCad source code, I decide to >> add the required functionality myself. Here it is: >> http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~jeru-sheng/kicad/kicad-feature/revision/6924 >> >> What it does is: If a via appears on F.Cu layer, print it also on F.Mask >> layer; same for B.Cu layer via on B.Mask layer. >> >> The new functionality is controllable in "File->Print" menu as a check box: >> [image: Inline image 1] >> >> Given the following pcb traces: >> [image: Inline image 4] >> >> When the check box is off: >> [image: Inline image 2] >> >> When it is on: >> [image: Inline image 3] >> (so it seems the vias are on all copper layers, even if the traces it is >> connected to are not on all layers). >> >> And this does not affect Gerber plot even when the check box is on: >> [image: Inline image 5] >> >> Look forward to hearing back. >> >> Regards, >> Cheng Sheng > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp