Have you ever thought that when you complete the design on KiCad, you can place an order on PCB manufacturer – PCBWay with just one click?
Now this idea is finally achieved (it’s not an April Fool’s joke).
As we may know, PCBWay is the first Chinese PCB manufacturer to start the Plug-in collaboration with Kicad, trying to benefit makers as much as possible.
When you click PCBWay Plug-in button on Kicad, PCBWay will export these files in your project：
1.Gerber files in correct format for production
2.IPC-Netlist file
3.BOM-file that includes all information of components
4.Pick and Place-file used in assembly
You can click “Save to Cart” to place an order immediately after uploading the files ( usually only takes a few seconds). The engineers will double check the files before the production and will get in touch with you immediately if any production problems occur.
1. Installation from the official KiCad repositories
Just open the “Plugin and Content Manager” from the KiCad main menu and install the “PCBWay Plug-in for KiCad” plugin from the selection list. See as attached picture below.
2. Manual installation
You can also download the latest ZIP file from github page, then open the “Plugin and Content Manager” from the main window of KiCad and install the ZIP file via “Install from File”.
Besides the PCB orders, most of engineers are also interested in PCB Assembly which can make their project into an integrated one. So, it’s very crucial to select a professional company to do or help on this.
PCBWay can get all information of components used in your design. In order to speed up the quotation of components, the information below is needed:
1. Designator (necessary)
2. Quantity (necessary)
3. MPN/Part Number (necessary)
4. Package/Footprint (necessary)
5. Manufacturer (optional)
6. Description/value (optional)
You just need to add the properties in your schematic like the picture shows:
Therefore, services can give the quote soon and purchase the components accordingly.
Such kind of small plug-in, really makes a great improvement no matter for the PCB manufacturers or engineers. People can realize one-stop solution from PCB design to PCB.
