Make a panel

A panel puts several copies of the board on one sheet, with rails for the assembly machine. JLCPCB can make the panel for you from single-board files, or you can draw it yourself with KiKit and get panel Gerbers, BOM and CPL.

Install KiKit

.venv/bin/python -m wholeboard.doctor --install kikit

KiKit runs on KiCad's own Python.

Make the files

Either:

• in the quote, choose a panel (columns × rows) and press Make the N × M panel files; or
• put it in the design: "board": {"panel": {"nx": 2, "ny": 2}}.

KiKit draws:

• V-cuts for boards with square corners, tabs with mouse bites for rounded ones;
• 5 mm rails top and bottom, with three tooling holes and three fiducials.

You get panel Gerbers, a panel BOM and a panel CPL with each copy's parts renamed (R1_0, R1_1 …), and the panel in the board view. Milled slots (for example mains isolation slots) are kept.

Fiducials on a single board

Parts at 0.5 mm pitch or finer need fiducials for the assembly machine. Without a panel, set "board": {"fiducials": true} to put three in the corners. WholeBoard warns when a board needs them and has none.

Parts on both sides

With "board": {"double_sided": true}, TraceMaker's placer may put parts on the bottom, and a part's placement.side pins it to one side. Bottom-side parts are flipped exactly as KiCad flips them, and the quote adds JLCPCB's second-side setup and stencil (standard assembly only).