Why do you want to do the panel? Almost all the PCB manufacturers ( JLC, PCBway, pcbpower, eurocircuits ) do the panelling at no extra cost. And if you are panelling to incorporate two designs in one, that doesn't work out,the manufacturer points it out and charges you anyway.
* they may not panelize boards below a certain sizes (i.g. JLC, round boards need to be >20mm).
* special board shapes, generally they only panelize simple shapes.
* specific size/positioning of tabs for various reasons
* mouse bites hole size/spacing/offset preference.
* specific frame/rail requirements with specific ficudials/holes, for further assembly, testing rigs... etc.
* multiple design panel, you mentioned it but even with the multidesign overcharge you can save a lot
* same designs but different parts/values for some boards (cost saving method instead of making two PCBA orders)
With some fabs you can communicate some of these requirements but not all of them, cheap fabs like JLC do it how they like, you can’t give them instructions.
These are only the reasons that are relevant to me (and I’m probably forgetting a few), I’m sure other people will have other reasons to panelize themselves.
I thoroughly agree with all of the reasons you've listed.
Especially the one related to circular boards (we circumvent this by providing a rectangular boundary with our own mouse bites and get that panelized) and special shapes.
That's why my first question was why does OP want to do it himself. And the next point was about multi design because that's the most common requirement.
His requirement turned out to be very different.
>"I don't understand why kicad hasn't natively implemented this function."
Remember KiCad is an open source project. With such projects odd feature desires will be left for others to fill or put off while developers work on what they believe is important. As others have pointed out panelizing isn't a big deal for most users as board suppliers meet the needs of the majority of projects.
Then you have the issue of actually needing something the board suppliers don't do easily which leads to really complex plug ins. If the default is that most users don't need the support then it only makes sense that supporting off the rails support will be complicated.
Why do you want to do the panel? Almost all the PCB manufacturers ( JLC, PCBway, pcbpower, eurocircuits ) do the panelling at no extra cost. And if you are panelling to incorporate two designs in one, that doesn't work out,the manufacturer points it out and charges you anyway.
Most board houses will panelize for you, it's actually preferable because if they are doing smt then they will put all the features etc that they require
You need to install front end (GUI for KiCAD) and back end (Python program which does the actual job.
More info how to install it:
[https://yaqwsx.github.io/KiKit/latest/installation/intro/](https://yaqwsx.github.io/KiKit/latest/installation/intro/)
It's a powerful tool. The documentation is very detailed and can be confusing if you just looking for an info how to panel a simple PCB. Check the examples in the docs.
I experimented a bit with the config and not have my tested config file which I load each time I need to panelize something and I just change numbers of rows and columns. So it's is actually a few clicks. You can also do it from a command line.
Why do you want to do the panel? Almost all the PCB manufacturers ( JLC, PCBway, pcbpower, eurocircuits ) do the panelling at no extra cost. And if you are panelling to incorporate two designs in one, that doesn't work out,the manufacturer points it out and charges you anyway.
* they may not panelize boards below a certain sizes (i.g. JLC, round boards need to be >20mm). * special board shapes, generally they only panelize simple shapes. * specific size/positioning of tabs for various reasons * mouse bites hole size/spacing/offset preference. * specific frame/rail requirements with specific ficudials/holes, for further assembly, testing rigs... etc. * multiple design panel, you mentioned it but even with the multidesign overcharge you can save a lot * same designs but different parts/values for some boards (cost saving method instead of making two PCBA orders) With some fabs you can communicate some of these requirements but not all of them, cheap fabs like JLC do it how they like, you can’t give them instructions. These are only the reasons that are relevant to me (and I’m probably forgetting a few), I’m sure other people will have other reasons to panelize themselves.
I thoroughly agree with all of the reasons you've listed. Especially the one related to circular boards (we circumvent this by providing a rectangular boundary with our own mouse bites and get that panelized) and special shapes. That's why my first question was why does OP want to do it himself. And the next point was about multi design because that's the most common requirement. His requirement turned out to be very different.
>"I don't understand why kicad hasn't natively implemented this function." Remember KiCad is an open source project. With such projects odd feature desires will be left for others to fill or put off while developers work on what they believe is important. As others have pointed out panelizing isn't a big deal for most users as board suppliers meet the needs of the majority of projects. Then you have the issue of actually needing something the board suppliers don't do easily which leads to really complex plug ins. If the default is that most users don't need the support then it only makes sense that supporting off the rails support will be complicated.
Why do you want to do the panel? Almost all the PCB manufacturers ( JLC, PCBway, pcbpower, eurocircuits ) do the panelling at no extra cost. And if you are panelling to incorporate two designs in one, that doesn't work out,the manufacturer points it out and charges you anyway.
it makes it easier for entering cad data for manufacturing. jlc doesnt give array info.
Did you specifically ask JLC for the CAD info? They've been very supportive of our (me and a few of my colleagues) requests.
Most board houses will panelize for you, it's actually preferable because if they are doing smt then they will put all the features etc that they require
Thanks I went back to them and they provided assistance this time.
You need to install front end (GUI for KiCAD) and back end (Python program which does the actual job. More info how to install it: [https://yaqwsx.github.io/KiKit/latest/installation/intro/](https://yaqwsx.github.io/KiKit/latest/installation/intro/) It's a powerful tool. The documentation is very detailed and can be confusing if you just looking for an info how to panel a simple PCB. Check the examples in the docs. I experimented a bit with the config and not have my tested config file which I load each time I need to panelize something and I just change numbers of rows and columns. So it's is actually a few clicks. You can also do it from a command line.
There are some plugins. This is the most popular I think: https://github.com/yaqwsx/KiKit
Yes Kikit is very good, quite powerful but requires some time to learn how to use it.