Designing Flexible Sensors in KiCad with Flex PCB

Trill Flex brings flexible touch sensing to your maker projects. Trill Flex comes with a one-axis multitouch sensor printed on flexible PCB, but we designed this sensor to be detachable so you can create entirely custom sensors perfectly suited to your own projects. This tutorial shows you how!

In this tutorial we will create a custom 30-button flexible touchpad. You will learn how to set up a KiCad project and include the Trill design files, draw the pads, add a ground plane, and get your design ready to be printed. (Every purchase of Trill Flex comes with a unique discount code for $20 off flex PCB printing with our friends at OSHPark.com.)

Want a text version of this tutorial? Visit https://learn.bela.io/flex-design

Trill Flex is available now on the Bela shop: https://shop.bela.io/collections/tril...

What you’ll learn in this tutorial:

Intro to Flex PCBs 0:00
Set up: Download and install KiCad 2:00
1. Download the KiCad Trill Flex libraries 2:44
2. Load the trill-flex symbols and footprints 3:27
3. Set up a new KiCad project 5:22
4. Add the Trill Flex symbol to the schematic 5:42
5. Add the Trill Flex footprint to the PCB 6:30
6. Draw the pads 9:12
7. Connect the nets 14:10
8. Make the connections 15:46
9. Draw an outline 18:34
10. Run the design rules and electrical check 19:23
11. Generate the file for manufacturing at OSH Park 20:24
12. Get your sensor ready to use! 21:47

Learn about Trill: https://bela.io/trill
Buy Trill Flex: https://shop.bela.io/collections/tril...

Music by Vula Viel (http://vulaviel.com).