Quickstart Intro to Kicad - Design a board in 5 minutes

In this quickstart introduction to Kicad, I will show you all the steps needed to design a simple board in Kicad - in just 5 minutes. This video is intended to quickly show you how to design a board - not to go into details.

There have been some changes to KiCad since I created this tutorial. Generate net list is no longer needed. And a pin header with 2 pins is called Conn_01x02. Search for conn_ to see the available options.

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Hope to see you there!

Thanks for watching!

[DarcyWhyte]

Thanks!

Mine doesn't have "Generate NET list". Is that not needed anymore?

[tomdufijn]

This 5 minute tutorial gave me a better undersanding of kicad than another 25 minute tutorial I watched beforehand. Very well done!

[WestonP]

A YouTube tutorial that gets right to the point without any fluff or other distractions. You are a hero, my friend!

[JimAndyAllyn]

As others have said, this tutorial was just what the doctor ordered! I designed a couple of PCBs decades ago, and remembered it being fairly simple. I probably watched a half dozen or more tutorials before watching this one, and started a project, but I simply did not feel like I was getting anywhere. This 5 minute tutorial was better than the other 3 or 4 hours of tutorials I watched put together. There is a big difference between knowing how to do something and knowing how to teach it. Nicely done.

[coliban]

Short, fast, essential, this is the only way tutorials for beginners should be done.

[adventures_of_oliver]

Thats how tutorials should be done! Well done!

[matebiro]

Thanks for the quick tutorial! As total newbie to KiCAD it helped me a lot to design a NE555 based PWM fan controller circuitboard.

[cfriedel]

Thanks for the great tutorial! Have always been intimidated by PCB layout programs, but with your tutorial, I was able to make my first PCB. Really appreciate it!

[robbie]

Maybe the most concise well organized informative tutorial I've ever seen

[deemitchell]

This was what I was looking for. There many videos on Youtube for doing this but the way they do it in their code...just really isn't how you would/should do it if you were a professional. My belief is this video is how it should be done and how a professional would do it.
Thank you.

[dylanrice]

I'm coming to KiCAD after using Fusion 360's electronics design software. This tutorial was exactly what I needed. A bit of the functionality has changed since 2018 but I was still able to follow the tutorial with no problem in 2022. One nice change is you no longer seem to need to export and then import the net list in order to turn the schematic into a circuit board. Props on the great tutorial it's held up really well!

[CarstenBauer]

Thank you, I tried Ki-Cad a while ago and was stumped. This give a basic idea of how to start and finish a basic project. Thank you again!

[ckgrier]

OMG! You just made the best KiCAD intro ever. Bravo!

[esspe]

Straight to thepoint, no more no less. I knew there were numerous steps necessary to make a PCB, but your video makes them less intimidating. Great!

[HardwareUnknown]

I've been looking for circuit design software for making reference schematics. I was drawn to Fritzing because of the visuals, but KiCad stood out as I heard it was better to learn in the long term (more professional use cases, and better for PCB manufacturing). Even though I'm not yet looking to make custom PCBs, great to know it's so easy to get started. Thanks for breaking it down so well. I'll be trying out KiCAD because of your tutorial.

[fredhamilton]

Fantastic video - everything I needed to know to get working on my (much larger) project in just over 5 minutes. This was exactly what I was looking for!

[methodermis]

This is such a concise and complete guide, I had to pause a lot but followed along! Subbed

[Booruvcheek]

Great video, short and to the point.
Regarding Kicad itself - I have little to no experience with PCB design, but Kicad leaves me with the impression of being several programs "under one roof", rather than one program.

[alicewyan]

Thank you so much! I've been struggling to learn the basics of EAGLE, but after this tutorial I think I'll be using KiCAD instead

[adamkotnik]

Hey Oyvind, this video was a life-saver! I had KiCad install for about a month and I never used it until I saw your video. You spared me a lot of headaches - again! :) Thanks a lot!!