How to Add Connection Points in KICAD

Thread Starter

bwilliams60

Joined Nov 18, 2012
1,442
Hey All, Hope everyone is safe and healthy.
I am designing a very simple connection board where I would like to take two 17 pin ICs and run wires from it to another board. I would like to know how to add the connection points to my schematic in Kicad. I am new to this program and have googled it but haven't found anything. So I am imagining there will be 17 holes for each IC and they will be plated vias, is that correct? I would then run traces from the connection points to the pads for my ICs. Fairly simple. Just need Kicad information. Any takers?
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
If in fact you are running connections to a separate board surely you would need a connector of some kind, even if using soldered conductors you would use a suitably populated connector symbol for either one.
The final footprint would be specified when assigning components to modules at board layout time.
Max.
 

hrs

Joined Jun 13, 2014
394
On the right hand side of the screen left-click the "Place symbol" icon. It looks like an opamp. Your cursor should change to a pen. Left-click the schematic anywhere. You'll get the "Choose symbol" dialog. At the top of this dialog type "con" in the search filter. You now have loads of connectors to choose from. One of them is "Conn_01x17_male". Double-click the one you want or select and click ok. You can now place it on your schematic. This is assuming you have default symbol libraries installed.
 

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Thread Starter

bwilliams60

Joined Nov 18, 2012
1,442
Thank you for your replies. I understand how to add a connector. I was hoping to use just simple vias as my connection points as I wanted to stay away from connectors on this particular project. The space is small that I a working in and simply feeding the wires to the board and soldering them would make it easier in this case.
 

ronsimpson

Joined Oct 7, 2019
2,985
I was hoping to use just simple vias as my connection points
In EAGLE CAD they are called "test point". There should be a one leg component. You need to add it to the schematic. There are through hole or surface mount versions.

I just tried it in KiCAD. Search for "TestPoint" or test point. This will get you a place to connect wires.
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
Thank you for your replies. I understand how to add a connector. I was hoping to use just simple vias as my connection points as I wanted to stay away from connectors on this particular project. The space is small that I a working in and simply feeding the wires to the board and soldering them would make it easier in this case.
This can be specified in the footprint assignment, you can assign any type of footprint available or you want to create!
For e.g. a DIP strip for IDC pins etc consist of plated through holes, for example.
Max.
 

Thread Starter

bwilliams60

Joined Nov 18, 2012
1,442
Okay so I figured out that part. Now I am trying to add a new footprint. Anybody care to walk me through this process in laymans terms. Maybe just show me the pathway or how to create the pathway. This seems like a lot of work and is not that user friendly. Either that or I am just humbled by the fact that I just don't get it. Version 5.1.5. Thanks in advance.
 
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