MEZZANINE PROJECT TEMPLATE

96boards Mezzanine Project Template

MEZZANINE PROJECT TEMPLATE

This project provides you with all the base files required for a mezzanine pcb project.

In this project, you will find the following: - COPYING (license) - meta - 96boards.pretty (folder containing footprints) ° - mezza-cache.lib ° (system file, ignore) - mezza.pro ° - mezza.sch ° - mezza.kicad_pcb ° - fp-lib-table °

Files marked with ° are the KiCad project files

What is this project for?

This is a project template for anyone who wants to develop a 96Boards Mezzanine board (compatible with these boards).

This project's schematic only contains the necessary connectors needed for a mezzanine board. By default it is set up for SMD connectors, but can easily be changed to through-hole.

The PCB includes the connectors and mounting holes. The holes and connectors have been positioned so that the boards are aligned when mounted. The edge cuts also aligns with the base board. All the mezzanine board low-speed expansion connector IO is connected to the header pins. High-speed expansion IO has not yet been added.

How to use this project

This project has been formatted to work with KiCad's "New Project from Template" tool. You should clone this project into your KiCad templates directory. For example, on OSX the system template directory is /Library/Application Support/kicad/template/. A Linux user's template directory is $HOME/kicad/template/

Once cloned, you can use the new template by navigating to File > New Project > New Project From Template. After selecting your save location, click on System Templates or User Templates (depending on which file path you previously selected to clone the project to). Upon validation of the file path, the 96Boards mezzanine template should appear under the 96Boards logo. Select the template and you'll be good to go.

Changing to Through Hole Connector

By default, this project loads with the connectors set up as SMD. If you would prefer to use a through hole instead, follow the instructions on the schematic to delete a connector and change the footprint on the other. To change the footprint, right click and select Edit Component. In the dialog box, click on the footprint section, then on the right there should now be a button called Assign Footprint. Click the button, and choose the different footprint file. Create a new netlist file, open up the PCB editor, and Load Netlist, ensuring that Exchange Footprint is set to CHANGE, and Extra Footprints is set to DELETE. Click Read Current Netlist to load the new connector. Now you should have only one connector on the board, and when you view in 3D view, there will be a through hole connector.