KiCad PCB Design· Live
Home / Chapter 1 / 1.2

Your first project: from schematic to PCB

Lesson 1.2 · KiCad · free

Video coming soon

Before the real board, we make a tiny one to see the whole path. In KiCad every design has two parts: the schematic says which parts we use and how they connect, and the PCB says how the real board looks.

In this lesson · 5 steps
  1. Create a new project
  2. Place two resistors
  3. Connect them with a wire
  4. Send the schematic to the PCB
  5. Route the track

1Create a new project

  1. KiCad → File → New Project → choose a folder and a name, e.g. test_project
  2. Two files appear: .kicad_sch (schematic) and .kicad_pcb (PCB). Double-click the schematic to open it
Why?
A project keeps the schematic and the PCB together. KiCad creates both files for us, with the same name as the project.

2Place two resistors

  1. Schematic Editor → Place → Add Symbol (A) → search R → choose R (Resistor)
  2. Pick a footprint for it, e.g. Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608Metric → OK, click to place it
  3. Place a second resistor the same way
Why?
A symbol is the drawing of a part in the schematic. When we pick it, we can also pick its footprint: the pads the part will sit on, on the real board.

3Connect them with a wire

  1. Place → Draw Wire (W) → click one pin of R1, then one pin of R2

4Send the schematic to the PCB

  1. Open the PCB Editor → Tools → Update PCB from Schematic (F8) → Update PCB → Close
  2. Click to drop the two footprints. These are the real pads of the resistors
Why?
The PCB editor does not follow the schematic by itself. Each time the schematic changes, we update the PCB.

5Route the track

  1. Find the thin ratsnest line between the two pads
  2. Route → Single Track (X) → click the first pad, then the second
Why?
The thin line between the pads is the ratsnest. It says: these pads are connected in the schematic, but there is no copper between them yet.
Check & troubleshoot

What you should see

  • The project folder has a .kicad_sch and a .kicad_pcb file
  • After the update, the PCB shows two resistor footprints joined by a thin line (the ratsnest)
  • After routing, the thin line is gone and a red copper track joins the two pads

If it doesn't work

  • The PCB is empty: run Tools → Update PCB from Schematic (F8) and press Update PCB
  • No footprint in the PCB for a part: the symbol has no footprint. Pick one in the symbol chooser (or in the symbol's Footprint field) and update again
  • Can't find a symbol: type a short name in the search box, e.g. R for a resistor

Good to know

  • Splitting the design into a schematic and a PCB keeps each step small. We first decide what connects to what, then where it goes
  • The KiCad library has about 22,000 symbols. That sounds like a lot, but there are millions of parts on the market. Like a local bookstore, it has the popular ones, not everything. So in chapter 2 we make our own library

Next: Lesson 1.3: before we draw our own symbols, we learn to read the datasheet of our LED driver.