kicad-lib-committers team mailing list archive

[Cirilo Bernardo <cirilo_bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Vesa Solonen <vesa.solonen@xxxxxxxx>
> To: kicad-lib-committers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: 
> Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2013 8:58 AM
> Subject: [Kicad-lib-committers] Footprint library info
> 
> Something to learn from the neighbours:
> 
> http://blogs.mentor.com/tom-hausherr/blog/2010/09/22/pcb-design-perfection-starts-in-the-cad-library-part-2/
> 
> 
> The main question is how to draw a footprint for a component where the
> actual footprint is much smaller that the courtyard, because of the
> vertical shape? A good example of the component is:
> 
> http://best-b2b.com/userimg/545/570-1/toroidal-inductors-716.jpg
> 
> We should probably include a separate courtyard layer in addition to the
> current silkscreen.
> 
> http://blogs.mentor.com/tom-hausherr/blog/2010/11/18/pcb-design-perfection-starts-in-the-cad-library-part-6/
> 
> -Vesa
> 


I agree and would even go a few steps further.  In IPC7351 and ongoing discussions on land patterns there are also other layers which are mentioned such as the fiducials layer (I can't recall if the zero position / zero orientation marks go into the fiducial layer or their own special layer).  I think all the extra layers become more important for professional work and especially for the creation and verification of boards intended for automated assembly; people who do hand assembly can also benefit since they can use footprints with larger courtyards.  The implementation can get tricky; for example, a THT courtyard will extend to both sides of a board, many SMD courtyards only affect one side of a board but some SMD courtyards may affect both sides.  It may be necessary to see what the devs think of this so that we can at least reserve certain layers for a fixed purpose.

- Cirilo