I have had similar problems. I have found a program that can generate correct footprints to IPC specifications. The site is http://www.pcbmatrix.com/. There is a viewer and a calculator. The only downside is it doesn't generate Kicad modules. It will however print out specifications that can be easily used to create the desired footprint. The viewer is good for viewing component footprints found in it's library, the calculator can create specifications for parts that are not in it's library.
Carl From: Greg Dyess Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 4:35 PM To: kicad-users@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Completely depressing ! I too learned that lesson. Fortunately, it was not as far into the design as you were. From then on, I hand-verified almost all of the modules from the libraries before I used them. I would then only use my own libraries with the verified components. When I ran across a foottprint I did not have, I would usually, but not always, start from the SourceForge library and create the new one. I also put my module libraries into a source code management system so I can track my mods and compare easily against the originals. Just a few ideas that have saved me time. Greg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Stephrac74 <stephra...@wanadoo.fr> To: kicad-users@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sat, February 6, 2010 10:16:39 AM Subject: [kicad-users] Completely depressing ! Hi guys, I would like to share with you my very bad experience in order to help you to avoid becoming completely depressed as I am now… I’ve been working about 50 hours on a PCB using Kicad and the libraries found on the soundforge. I’ve a TFQP microcontroller in my design and used the module found in microchip-2 library called TQFP64 ! I’ve not checked before drawing the PCB that the module was ok…. And what a mistake ! The module is wrong, dimensions are not correct making the component impossible to mount and solder ! I can of course correct this by changing the module, but using Kicad this means erasing all the wires connected there and restart most of my design (very compact). I think about 20h more to spend on this PCB… That is absolutely dramatic for a professional use as spending 70h on a such basic PCB with around 100 components ! So my best advice is to redesign all your modules and not spend one minute using the libs you can find in Kicad or on the web. There are so many errors that you discover all along your design (silkcreens, wrong dimensions, …) making finally a massive waste of time. Of course, If I knew that before I would have redesigned all the components and created my own libs… Hoping it will prevent some other people to face what I’m facing now ! Best Stephane
