kicak-pick-and-place-aci-epfl

This is a small tool to conform Kicad's Pick and Place Information to EPFL ACI footprint placement information.

Prerequisite and installation

Prerequisite :

• golang. Tested on version 1.10
• KiCad. Tetsed on version 4.0.7

Installation :

 shell
go test
go build

Usage

1. Prepare your PCB layout for manual pick and place operation

EPFL's ACI is using a manual Pick and Place machine, so therefore the origin for the component's placement should be specified physically on the board. The easiest is to choose the first pad of any given component as the origin so the operator could use it as a visual reference on the machine. To do so, use the pcbnew's `Place the origin point for drill and place files` tool and select the desired pad.

2. Export necessary data from pcbnew

From your original KiCad layout file (*.kicad_pcb), you will need to generate several files :

• The component position files: in pcbnew, use the File >> Fabrication Outputs >> Footprint Position (.pos) File command.
• The component report file: in pcbnew, use the File >> Fabrication Outputs >> Footprint Reprot (.rpt) File1 command .
• Optionally, you can export the gerber file so the ACI will generate a nice documentation about component placement. To do this, use the pcbnew's Plot tool, select Gerber format, and make sure you selected the Use Protel filename extensions and unselected the Include extended attributes options

3. Use the script to generate the Pick and Place data

 shell
./kicad-pick-and-place-aci-epfl -P <your-pcb>-top.pos [-P <your-pcb>-bottom.pos] -R <your-pcb>.rpt

This will generate a file <your-pcb>-PaP.txt

4. Send the required data to EPFL ACI

You should send to ACI :

• The file <your-pcb>-PaP.txtfile
• Optionally all the gerber file your exported from pcbnew.