Hi,

I am not a complete beginner with PCB design, but using KiCAD for the first time. I am doing a 4 layer board with 2nd and 4th being the grounds. I made a copper zone on the second layer (for now its the only zone on the whole board, so priority does not matter), assigned the GND net to it and pressed "B", but the zone did not fill. I have already searched for an answer in the forums, but all the solutions suggested earlier did not work for me. What is causing the copper zone not to fill?

 

Control B
B
Toggles the fill- No fill option.
Look at the list of hot keys, ensure the keys are set, they are close to the bottom of the list, you can also set your own.

 

The icon just to the left of B.Silkscreen tells it to fill the filled zones.

 

I don't have 8 but: looks to me that you are putting the copper fill on a middle layer.

 

I don't have 8 but: looks to me that you are putting the copper fill on a middle layer.

That is exactly what I am after. Is there any problem with that?

 

Press “b” to refill zones, or is it control B.

 

Press “b” to refill zones, or is it control B.

Also there is one more thing I can get over with on my own. Somehow there is this pad exclusion zone set around each pad that prevents any coper other than the dedicated net to be in specific range of the pad. I tried to find how to reduce this distance really hard but could not find how to do it, the internet did not help either. Do you know how can I reduce the pad exclusion zone?

 

I don't have CAD on this computer but, from memory, select the coper fill and edit or change properties. There should be clearance numbers to change. Clearance just in that coper and not others.

 

I don't have CAD on this computer but, from memory, select the coper fill and edit or change properties. There should be clearance numbers to change. Clearance just in that coper and not others.

Ok, I managed the net exclusion zone problem, but the problem with copper fill persists. I have checked my hotkeys and watched many tutorials, I am doing the exact same thing. I even get loading screen for some short period when I press ,,B", but there is still no fill. Are there any graphical or project related settings that are likely to cause this problem? I tried to do it with different nets and on different layers, but result was the same...

 

Just for trouble shooting, try a copper fill on the top layer (red)
Should work and might give us an idea.

 

I was just now having this problem with KiCad 9 and solved it. There's a button on the left side that looks like an exact duplicate of the Draw Filled Zones button on the right, except this one is called Draw Zone Fills. Just under that on the left is a button that says Draw Zone Outlines. Only one of the two buttons on the left can be active. If the lower button is active, it disables drawing the filled zones. I'm not sure how I managed to get that button stuck on, because it was certainly not intentional. Maybe there's a key combination that turns it on, that I entered by accident?

And by the way I don't believe there is (or should be) any prohibition on using filled zones in inner layers.

 

And by the way I don't believe there is (or should be) any prohibition on using filled zones in inner layers.

Agree, filled zones can be on any layer.
It is common for people to be on one layer and think they are on another. I see this often.