Just use Eremex TopoR or something else that has automatic component placement optimization functionality. It should get your PCB started with a much nicer initial layout and will allow you to get your job done much faster.
A long time ago, in old Eagle cad there was a script that moved parts according their position in schematic. So u could see parts related to each other together and easily pick them.
You are MOSTLY thru hole, with just a few smt parts, unless that is a deliberate decision I would make those thru hole as well simply for consistency and because mixed reflow and wave is a pain in the arse for a board assembly house.
You are probably going to want a ground plane anyway, so start by hiding the ground net, that will remove at least a third of that I would have thought. I might also hide the power nets, but I generally reach for a 4 layer board by default these days, and expect to do that on a buried layer.
Then place mounting holes, connectors and card edge mounted controls where they must be. These are generally well defined by external considerations so you usually have little choice here.
Power supply next, along with anything that needs heatsinking, especially if it needs off board heatsinking.
Another good way to avoid situations like this – is making schematics and pcb in parallel. U put some parts on schematic, connect them and then go to pcb and place them. Then next group of parts the same way. It is the only way to deal with large pcbs with 100s of components.
Turn off airwires (view) and bunch components into subcircuits.
Then place connectors according to mechanical drawing.
Then place subcircuit components in the subcircuit arrangement. This can be at a random place as the subcircuit can be grouped and moved as a whole later.
Then when all subcircuits are arranged, start placing on the board and adjust.
Then do important signal routes, vias for ground and power planes.
In KiCad, if you use hierarchical sheets to organize functional parts of the schematic, pcbnew groups components by sheet. So you end up with related parts clumped together.
Hide your power and ground nets to start. Focus on signal only to start. Group components and move them around to make the ratsnest easier to work with. Good luck!
I agree with folks here. Hide your ground, put the stuff that you KNOW where it has to go in those spots, group parts by subcircuit, and things will start making a lot more sense.
You don’t need some high-falootin computer telling you what connects where! I only turn the connection lines back on at the end to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.
hide the wires to GND, that should make it a little easier to see what you are working with. my bosses keep thinking auto router for board layout, but they have no idea that the component placement is really the important/hard thing to do. Once the components are paced nicely, the routing is not that hard to do, usually 🙂
Position from schematic to layout using this script. It should do this by default IMO. Who wants to spend this time reorganizing footprints like this. It’s virtual torture.
i would suggest in future to have your deisgn placed on multiple schematics to avoid this. for example:
schm1 can be your power supply stuff,
schm2 can be your microcontrolelr
and schm3 can be som eother subcircuit
software like altium can usually unify these sub schematics into a main sheet that shows how they are interconnected.
Then youll be able to place things around one at a time of two at a time if need be
Hate to be that guy, but I actually like wading through the chaos.
The most chaotic one was a backplane spanning about 40 by 60 cm’s and 14 layers completely bombarded with headers, connectors and other stuff.
Was a nice puzzle for a couple of days. But what a sense of achievement when all airwires start to line up in a route-able manner.
Autoroute ENGAGE!
Try going to the schematic and moving some components a bit so the wires disconnect. I do this and work on smaller areas at a time.
Just use Eremex TopoR or something else that has automatic component placement optimization functionality. It should get your PCB started with a much nicer initial layout and will allow you to get your job done much faster.
Would be fun to apply Kirchhoff’s Laws
embrace the chaos!
Oh and organising footprints into logical groups is always a good place to start.
A long time ago, in old Eagle cad there was a script that moved parts according their position in schematic. So u could see parts related to each other together and easily pick them.
Autorouter Go brrr
Looks fairly noddy to me.
You are MOSTLY thru hole, with just a few smt parts, unless that is a deliberate decision I would make those thru hole as well simply for consistency and because mixed reflow and wave is a pain in the arse for a board assembly house.
You are probably going to want a ground plane anyway, so start by hiding the ground net, that will remove at least a third of that I would have thought. I might also hide the power nets, but I generally reach for a 4 layer board by default these days, and expect to do that on a buried layer.
Then place mounting holes, connectors and card edge mounted controls where they must be. These are generally well defined by external considerations so you usually have little choice here.
Power supply next, along with anything that needs heatsinking, especially if it needs off board heatsinking.
Another good way to avoid situations like this – is making schematics and pcb in parallel. U put some parts on schematic, connect them and then go to pcb and place them. Then next group of parts the same way. It is the only way to deal with large pcbs with 100s of components.
Turn off airwires (view) and bunch components into subcircuits.
Then place connectors according to mechanical drawing.
Then place subcircuit components in the subcircuit arrangement. This can be at a random place as the subcircuit can be grouped and moved as a whole later.
Then when all subcircuits are arranged, start placing on the board and adjust.
Then do important signal routes, vias for ground and power planes.
And finally route the rest.
r/unexpectedMontyPython
In KiCad, if you use hierarchical sheets to organize functional parts of the schematic, pcbnew groups components by sheet. So you end up with related parts clumped together.
Hide your power and ground nets to start. Focus on signal only to start. Group components and move them around to make the ratsnest easier to work with. Good luck!
Single layer!
So your post made it to the popular page and I’m a bit a brand new EE student. What are you working on here if you don’t mind me asking?
Xd
I print out the schematic and then go to the board view where i spend hours typing show r14, show c9, show d3, and grouping by sub circuit.
First step; hide the ground airwires.
This looks very fun
honestly i just use an Auto Router and clean up the Traces manually afterwards a bit.
so far it has worked perfectly fine, from 8 bit computers, Arduino Clones, to a Compact Flash adpater for an IBM PC
I agree with folks here. Hide your ground, put the stuff that you KNOW where it has to go in those spots, group parts by subcircuit, and things will start making a lot more sense.
Uhhh.
View -> Connections -> Hide all.
You don’t need some high-falootin computer telling you what connects where! I only turn the connection lines back on at the end to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.
That sick feeling when you start the layout phase.
hide the wires to GND, that should make it a little easier to see what you are working with. my bosses keep thinking auto router for board layout, but they have no idea that the component placement is really the important/hard thing to do. Once the components are paced nicely, the routing is not that hard to do, usually 🙂
“Apply KVL”
Position from schematic to layout using this script. It should do this by default IMO. Who wants to spend this time reorganizing footprints like this. It’s virtual torture.
https://forum.kicad.info/t/simple-script-that-will-copy-position-from-schematic-to-layout-for-an-easier-start/23460/2
This is why placing the board is more than 1/2 of the time spent. You have some work ahead of you. u/MrSurly is right.
Remember, never trust the autorouter!
Seriously though, this is just one part of the EDM process, and if you get reasonably good at it, you can do surprising things.