fcad_pcb is yet another way to improve ECAD/MCAD collaboration betweeen FreeCAD and KiCAD.

The original purpose of these tools was to do PCB milling in FreeCAD. It can do much more now. It can generate gcode from kicad_pcb directly without going though gerber stage. It can let your modify the PCB directly inside FC (done already), and potentially export back to kicad_pcb (partially done). And finally it can generate solid tracks, pads and plated drills to enable FEM and thermal analysis on KiCad pcb boards.

fcad_pcb is written in Python, and relies on FreeCAD 0.17 core to work properly.

Clone this repo into your freecad macro directory. After clone, cd to fcad_pcb, and checkout the submodules

git submodule update --init --recursive

Start FreeCAD, in the console, the simplest usage:

• generating copper layers

from fcad_pcb import kicad
pcb = kicad.KicadFcad(<full_path_to_your_kicad_pcb_file>)
pcb.makeCoppers()

• generating copper layers, pads, drills as a full solid object, ready to be handled in FEM WB

from fcad_pcb import kicad
pcb = kicad.KicadFcad(<full_path_to_your_kicad_pcb_file>)
pcb.make(copper_thickness=0.035, board_thickness=1.53, combo=False, fuseCoppers=True )

• generating single copper layer

pcb.setLayer('F.Cu')
pcb.makeCopper()

• filtering by net name (for local nets you have to specify full hirarchical name)

pcb.setNetFilter('GND')
pcb.makeCopper()

pcb.setNetFilter('GND','VCC')
pcb.makeCopper()

In case you only want the shape without any intermediate document objects,

from fcad_pcb import kicad
pcb = kicad.KicadFcad(<full_path_to_your_kicad_pcb_file>, add_feature=False)
# Or, you can set the parameter later
pcb.add_feature = False

# All the above makeXXX() calls now returns a shape without creating any features
# For example, if you want the complete fused copper layers
coppers = pcb.makeCoppers(shape_type='solid',holes=True,fuse=True)
Part.show(coppers)

Note that there is a sample board to play with inside the repo: test.kicad_pcb

FEM of tracks and drills:

Full PCB in FreeCAD:

PCB for milling:

FEM of tracks and drills:

• FreeCAD 0.17, FreeCAD 0.18