How to position parts relative to each other in Kicad?

Question

Is it possible to automatically position parts in Kicad, relative to each other?

I'm making a board that plugs into an Arduino Nano, and I'm finding it difficult to position the straight headers at the exact 17.76 mm span to match the space between Nano's pin rows. If necessary, I can do this manually, but is there any built-in tool where I can select two parts and tell it to space them by a specific amount along a specific axis?

Is it also possible to center a part relative to the "Edge.Cuts" layer? I'd like to center these headers, and again, using the mouse while looking at the coordinates is very tedious and error prone.

Answer 1

The easiest way is to use the "Position Relative To" command. On a Mac, it is ⌘-R, under Linux, it is Ctrl-R. Or, you can access it using the right-click on a part or group.

Once you have selected this, you can choose an object for the reference

You will need to be running version 5 or higher for this function.

Answer 2

In KiCad 5, on Windows, not automatically but ...

In properties set the x,y of your first pin header, e.g. 100,100.

Do alt-v, s to specify the grid origin, giving the same x,y coordinates.

The pin header footprint now looks like this.

Place the second pin header and enter it's relative x,y coordinates, e.g. 117.76,100, (or ctrl-m on the parts to move exactly, setting the radio button "relative to grid origin").

Ending up with the two headers aligned the correct distance apart.

In your case you'd set the edge cut as the grid origin and position the two headers relative to there.

Answer 3

If anyone else has this specific problem I made a tool that takes position and rotation of parts and exports them as a group with the specified relative placement. You can then place the parts like a footprint without having to make one. https://github.com/snhobbs/kicad-parts-placer.