24 pin centronics connector?

Greetings I am new to kicad,
and I am looking for a 24 pin Centronics connector in a kicad library
Also might be known as an IEE-488 connector

Thanks!

Welcome @wtp

There are several libraries of connectors. If the item you need is not there, and nothing will suit, you will have to make your own.
With symbols, all you need is a generic 2 X 12, and for PCB you have the dimensions for both the courtyard and pad locations.

I doubt many of these connectors have been used on a new product for many years now, so expect supply problems

I disagree. Test & Measurement equipment tends to have a long life, as opposed to consumer products.
Plenty of equipment still around using GPIB.

Thanks for the replies all, this is just for a simple DIY project to learn board layout, probably only 5-10 boards and I have all the parts already.
The connectors can be found on Ali Express.
I just figured since they have been around a while they might be in a library somewhere.
Cheers

Hopefully you can get a datasheet for the exact connector part number you have (for reasons mentioned below) so you can make the proper footprint. For the symbol, any generic 2x12 connector should work, just watch that the pin numbers match what you expect. Or, you can take this as an opportunity to make your own symbol.

The annoying thing about connectors is while there are standards for the contact area of any connector (so, for example, any centronics-24 will mate with any other centronics-24), the circuit connection side is not standard. Even different product families from the same manufacturer may differ in aspects of retention/alignment pins, shield mounting holes, offset of signal pins from board edge, row spacing of signal pins, etc. With connectors (and some other components) you should hope to find a compatible footprint, but expect to have to make your own.

Since this is a “simple DIY project to learn”, you should take the opportunity of this learning project to also learn how to make footprints and symbols.

Good info, thanks!

I had posted what I have for the data sheet.

So you did. I think I glossed over it thinking that was an example of something like what you are looking for, not exactly what you have. :wink:

That drawing should be mostly enough for drawing your footprint. As I recall, the pins on that type of connector are similar in size to regular d-sub connectors, so as long as the d-sub drill sizes in the KiCad library are about 0.8mm you can probably just copy the pad sizes for your new footprint.

Which ever board house you use should have a minimum annular ring (pad size is annular ring * 2 plus drill size). But for soldering you probably want a larger annular ring otherwise it will be difficult to hit with your soldering iron. Choosing the “right” pad size is a balance between just large enough to be solderable and too close to the next pin’s pad. Often it is good to leave enough space to pass at least one trace between pins to make it easier to route the pins closest to the edge of the board toward the middle of the board where the rest of your circuit is.

Using oval pads and even offsetting them away from the connector centre line is a good way to give a solderable pad, while leaving room for tracks

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.