Stenchill

What is Stenchill?

Stenchill is a free browser tool that turns the Gerber files of a circuit board into a solder paste stencil you can print on an FDM printer. You drop in the ZIP your PCB program exported, or pick only the paste and board outline layers, and it builds a thin plate with an opening over every pad. After a 3D preview you can change the thickness, the shrink, your nozzle size and the shoulders that hug the board edge to keep the stencil aligned, then download a ZIP with STL and 3MF files for each side.

The useful part is what happens between the Gerber and the file. Pads too small for your nozzle are widened, rows of fine-pitch pads whose walls would never print are merged into one slot, thermal pads drawn as a grid become a single opening, and a bottom-side stencil is mirrored for you. A panel gets one plate per board. KiCad and EasyEDA Pro users can run the same engine from a plugin inside their editor; the files are still processed on the Stenchill server.

It suits hobbyists and small labs who build prototype boards by hand and do not want to wait days for a steel stencil. The site, labeled beta as of September 2026, is open about the limits: printed stencils work best for 0603 parts and larger-pitch chips, ideally with a 0.2 mm nozzle.

What you can make

• Top-side solder paste stencils
• Mirrored bottom-side stencils
• Stencils with alignment shoulders
• One stencil per board from a panel

How to use Stenchill

1. Export Gerbers with the paste layer and board outline from KiCad, Eagle, Altium or similar
2. Drop the ZIP on the Stenchill page, or try the sample board first
3. Check the 3D preview and set thickness, nozzle size and shoulders
4. Download the ZIP with the STL and 3MF files
5. Print at 0.1 mm layers and 100% infill, ideally with a 0.2 mm nozzle