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Importing and using kicad 3d PCB
kuon
Member Posts: 2 PRO
When importing .STEP files from kicad, onshape creates an assembly with all the components as parts.
My problem is when I insert this "subassembly" into my main assembly and put a mate connector on one of the screw pads, only the PCB is mated and all my components are loose.
How can I specify that all my components must be mated in place to the PCB?
0
Best Answer
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TimRice
Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 315 
To quickly constrain many parts relative to each other you can use the Group constraint in the subassembly. To learn more please see our documentation:
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/mategroup.htm
Depending on the quantity of parts in the subassembly you may benefit from combining all the parts into one part. To do so simply create a new In-context part studio, use the Transform feature to copy the parts in place, and finally use the Boolean feature to combine all the parts to one part. If you can make the document public and share the link here many people will be happy to help!Tim Rice | User Experience | Support
Onshape, Inc.2
Answers
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/mategroup.htm
Depending on the quantity of parts in the subassembly you may benefit from combining all the parts into one part. To do so simply create a new In-context part studio, use the Transform feature to copy the parts in place, and finally use the Boolean feature to combine all the parts to one part. If you can make the document public and share the link here many people will be happy to help!
Onshape, Inc.
We also have a custom feature which combines PCB imports into one part:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/9a9b81d17d4b69e58ad9b0b0/v/c253688ad8add5efd222a709/e/3152191074466a8b45231663
Just click the "+" button in the toolbar of that document to add the feature to your own toolbar.
there is a FeatureScript feature that directly imports KICAD models into Onshape as a feature.
do a search for “PCB Tools” in public to find and use it.