kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Werner Almesberger <werner@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lorenzo Marcantonio wrote:
> Only another playground... its the "bounding tile" of the component,

Hmm, but if you use it mainly for rework, adjacent components could
share the courtyard, no ? After all, you'll inspect or (de)solder
them one by one, not simultaneously.

Also, what do you do with components with a very non-rectangular
shape, e.g., SOT-23 and friends ?

> in other word it's not something you can compute
> automatically without access to the full IPC standard

Sigh. I wish the standard was a bit more free ...

> You you read the standard there is no handwaving...

Sorry, I meant what we're currently doing in KiCad for mechanical
clearance (and to some extent for electrical clearance as well,
i.e., where there's metal with no pad underneath.)

The problem with handwaving is that it's contagious. Make all your
keep out zones pessimistic (i.e., large) and people will get into
the habit of violating them because they know they can get away
with it. Make them optimistic, and each will introduce their own
"safety factor".

Same thing with disallowing overlapping keep out areas that can
overlap in practice. (That's why I brought up that point.)

Hmm, wouldn't it be nice for making hobbyist-friendly layouts if
we had the placement tolerance as a parameter, like we have the
clearance right now ? Of course, changing it would also have to
grow pads and such ...

- Werner