Tuesday, 1 January 2019

Are there surface-mount pin header footprints for KiCAD?


I'm designing a small module that breaks out a DIP SPI EEPROM to a 2x5 pin header socket(more info here: SPI-10). I want to mount the socket on the end of the board, with the pins lying parallel to the board.


I think two 5x1 surface-mount header footprints, on both sides of the board right near the end would do the job. Trouble is, KiCAD doesn't come with such a footprint(if it does, I haven't found it yet). Where might I find one? If one doesn't exist, that's OK; I'll have a shot at making my own.



Answer



You should really make your own. There are a few reasons for this.



  1. You need to be able to make your own schematic symbols and footprints. At some point, you're going to want to use some semi-obscure component that no one has made a library for. You'll have no choice but to make your own. That's not to say you shouldn't use standard IPC footprints. There's no need to reinvent the wheel there, but things like wireless modules don't conform to IPC standards.

  2. This is particularly a problem in the open source ecosystem where people of various skill levels are contribuiting. Library parts may not be right. The errors could be minor like improper ERC, or major, like wrong pin mapping. Any time you use someone else's library, you're responsible for making sure it's correct in the context of your circuit. Creating your own parts kills two birds with one stone.



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