Re: gEDA-user: Matching footprints with symbols

[John Griessen <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Amand Tihon wrote:
> Hi everyone.

> It could be due to my distribution (Debian), but I always get lost in the 
> symbols and footprints libraries that come with gEDA.

There are even more at gedasymbols.org and luciani.org

 For *none* of them does the silkscreen indicate the position
> of the anode or cathode.


> Or do you build your libraries of symbols and footprints that you *know* (or 
> hope) are correct ?
Yes.  There has been talk of somehow proofreading symbol/footprint pairs
for correct netlisting and good soldering, but it has not evolved into anything
very complete -- just what you can find on individual pages of sites above.

> Perhaps the state of the SMDs footprints is not that bad ?

I amusing a plc44 from there.  It seems good dimensions.
DJ, (and many here probably), prints out pdf of layout and "tries out"
parts for fit on it.

> I'm now slowly building my own libraries of footprints and heavy-wheight 
> symbols, to avoid mismatch between symbols and footprints.

I found parts of a workflow and changed it to suit me that lets you keep local libraries
easily.  See if you like this:  http://cottagematic.com/examples/
With a project directory approach like in that tarball, you could
change your local ./pcb.settings file to reference a different subdirectory of
footprints with the same names to have a pcb layout with smaller holes for manufacturing.

I'm not remembering how the referencing of different footprints works in pcb -- it may be
the footprints are sort of embedded and you have to reset that somehow --
needs some reading the pcb manual.

> Another reason I'm doing it is because I drill the holes by hand whithout any 
> drill-stand: my footprints have large (60 or 80 mil) pins that allow for some 
> imprecision, with 15 mil drill hole to have the drill bit position itself 
> right on spot, thanks to the copper thickness :)
> The drawback is that those footprints are obviously unusable if I ever need to 
> have a board manufactured.

They may be unusable as is, but you can use the pcb command window to change
drill sizes of groups of selected pins, vias.   Example commands for that:

ChangeDrillSize(SelectedObjects, 32, mil )
ChangeSize(SelectedObjects, 62.0, mil )

John


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