gEDA-user: IPC-SM-782A - Surface Mount Design & Land Pattern Standard

[Ales Hvezda <ahvezda@seul.org>]

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From: John Dalton <john.dalton@bigfoot.com>

Hi all,

I'm thinking it might be a fun thing to write a subroutine to
generate PCB footprints for different packages.  Eg.  Given
the string "SOP127X780-16N" the subroutine will return two
SVG documents, corresponding to the solder mask and copper
for a 1.27mm 16 pin SOP package.

I gather the IPC-SM-782A standard also includes a set of equations
and design rules to design lands given package dimensions.
Maybe it will be possible to encapsulate these design rules
into the subroutine so it can generate footprints for
arbitrary packages?

Is this a thing worth doing?  Does a piece of free software
already exist to do this?

If I'm going to do this, I'll need access to a copy of
IPC-SM-782A (with amendments 1+2).  Does anyone have
a copy of this standard?  If so, it is it simple to summarise
the design rules into an email?  (Or if you live in Sydney,
Australia, can I drop by and read it?)

Regards
John