KiCad Eurorack Panel Generator

NOTE: This is currently a work in progress. Not finished yet. Sorry.

This program generates a eurorack front panel for a given KiCad pcb file.

It can also do other related tasks such as generate blank panels and tell you some info about KiCad pcb files.

I'm building it in parts, and right now its main use (auto generation of front panels for a pcb) doesn't work yet. That said, some of the parts I've built already might be useful, so I'll list what the files are:

bin/kicad_eurorack_panel_generator.rb

This will be the main program. Right now it's just a placeholder file.

bin/generate_pcb.rb

This generates a PCB of the specified size. If no size is specified, it makes it 100mm x 100mm, since that's a useful size to have for cheap prototyping.

    Usage: generate_pcb.rb [options]
    Options:
        -x, --x-size XSIZE               The x-size of pcb (in mm)
        -y, --y-size YSIZE               The y-size of pcb (in mm)
        -a, --auto-extension             Add .kicad_pcb to output filename
        -o, --output OUTPUTFILE          The file to output
                                         (If not specified, output to stdout)
        -h, --help                       Show this message

bin/generate_panel.rb

This generates a eurorack panel sized correctly for the specified HP and optional formal (3U / Intellijel 1U / Pulp Logic 1U -- default is 3U). The panel includes mounting holes.

Formats (default: 3U)

• 3u or 3U = standard eurorack 3U
• 1ui or 1UI = Intellijel 1U
• 1up or 1UP = Pulp Logic 1U

Mounting hole sizes (default: M3):

• m3 or M3 = standard M3 holes

Mounting hole position options (default: auto):

• left = mounting holes only on left

• right = mounting holes only on right

• both = both right and left mounting holes

• auto = panels 9hp and skinnier only get mounting holes on left, panels 10hp and wider get left and right mounting holes

• none = no mounting holes

    Usage: generate_panel.rb [options]
    Options:
        -w, --width HP                   The width of panel in HP
        -f, --format FORMAT              The format (default: 3U)
        -p, --position POSITION          Mounting hole postion (default: auto)
        -a, --auto-extension             Add .kicad_pcb to output filename
        -o, --output OUTPUTFILE          The file to output
                                         (If not specified, output to stdout)
        -h, --help                       Show this message
  

bin/generate_panel_from_pcb.rb

This will generates a eurorack panel sized correctly to fit the specified PCB. Right now it's just a placeholder.

lib/eurorack.rb

This module contains all eurorack-specific constants/classes/methods/info I'm using.

Some of the useful methods that are currently working great:

• minimum_hp -- Calculates the minimum HP that the given width in mm will fit behind.
• panel_hp_to_mm -- Converts from HP to mm, reduced by a small amount for tolerance.

lib/kicad_pcb.rb

This module contains all kicad-specific constants/classes/methods/info I'm using.

Right now it just contains one class, Pcb, which is a fairly naive representation of a KiCad PCB, but it seems to work for my purposes so far.

lib/parsed_part.rb

This module has constants and methods that help with identifying and handling the footprints on the kicad pcb. It has a ways to go before it's useful.

This module should be merged with the KicadPcb module eventually.

lib/sexpr_parser.rb

This is a simple s-expression parser that helps with reading KiCad's pcb files.

Requirements

So far, this uses no external libraries, so it just need Ruby.

This was developed on a computer that had Ruby 2.4.1p111, so it should run on that version or any newer version (of which there are many). It will probably also run on older Ruby versions too, but if you go older than 2.0 you're asking for trouble.

I'll hopefully test it on more versions just to make sure.

How To Use

1. Clone the repo or download and unzip the repo.
2. From the command line, run ruby <name of file> -- help to see the options. Available programs:
   • ruby generate_panel.rb --help
   • ruby generate_panel_from_pcb.rb --help
   • ruby generate_pcb.rb --help
   • ruby kicad_eurorack_panel_generator.rb --help
   • ruby show_pcb_info.rb --help
3. Run the desired program as above, but without the --help option and with the appropriate options for what you want to accomplish.

References

Primary reference for eurorack 3U panel sizes: http://www.doepfer.de/a100_man/a100m_e.htm

Reference for eurorack 3U pcb sizes and additional reference for eurorack 3U sizes: https://sdiy.info/wiki/Eurorack_DIY_parts

Reference for Intellijel 1U pcb/panel sizes: https://intellijel.com/support/1u-technical-specifications/

Reference for Pulp Logic 1U pcb/panel sizes: http://pulplogic.com/1u_tiles/

Reference for KiCad file format: https://kicad.org/help/file-formats/ -- specifically the link to the legacy PDF documentation (but the documentation isn't great, so I mostly just made test pcb files in kicad and then made sense of the output)