My awesome macropad!
Hardware- 2 Devlogs
- 1 Total hours
You can write something simple like: “I am designing a custom macropad using a Seeeduino Xiao and KiCad, following the Hack Club Hackpad guide.”
Day 2 of Building Hackpad:
Today I moved from the finished schematic into actual PCB layout in KiCad.
Getting the footprints onto the board
Ran “Update PCB from Schematic” to pull my components (Seeeduino XIAO + SW1, SW2, SW3) onto the PCB canvas. Hit two snags right away:
SW3 had no footprint assigned at all, so KiCad refused to add it (“Cannot add SW3 (no footprint assigned)”).
U1 (the XIAO) had somehow been auto-assigned Module:Maple_Mini — a completely different, larger 40-pin board — instead of the correct 14-pin XIAO footprint.
Fixed both through the Assign Footprints tool: gave U1 the XIAO-Generic-Hybrid-14P-2.54-21X17.8MM footprint from the care package library, and matched SW3 to the same SW_NKK_GW12LJP footprint already used on SW1/SW2. Re-ran the update and everything landed cleanly.
Layout and routing:
Flipped the XIAO to the back copper layer so the board assembles with switches on top.
Spread out the three switch footprints (they land stacked on top of each other after every update — apparently normal) and arranged them around the XIAO.
Routed all the traces: pins 9, 10, and 11 from the XIAO out to each switch, plus GND daisy-chained across SW1 → SW2 → SW3.
Zero unrouted connections when I finished.
Board outline:
Drew the Edge.Cuts rectangle around everything and measured it out: 69.5mm × 68.5mm.
That’s the PCB fully done — schematic, footprints, routing, and outline. Next step is the case in Fusion 360 (still need to download it), followed by QMK firmware setup.
Day 1 of Building Hackpad
September 10, 2026
I got started with KiCad today to build my Hackpad. The first hurdle was installing the custom Hack Club “care package” libraries. It took me a moment to realize that footprints and symbols are managed in two separate library managers, but I eventually linked the .sym and .pretty files globally.
After that, I jumped into the schematic editor. I placed the SEEEDUINO-XIAO (which will be the brain of the board) and three push buttons. At first, I made a rookie mistake by wiring a pin straight to ground without the switch in between, but I caught it and fixed it. Now pins 9, 10, and 11 are wired properly through the switches and tied to a common ground. Everything is electrically connected and safely saved.
