Footprints are changed between Footprint and PCB editor

[muekno]

I designed a footprint (see screenshot) the pads are in a 2.54mm grid, the grid in the picture i 2,54mm to. you can see it is all correct. When I go to the PCB editor the pins are not all in the 2.54mm grid (see screenshot) I have set the grid to 2,54mm, so you can see better. I am afraid the final PBC board will not fit my elements.
PCB editor
Footprint editor
As you can see in the footprint editor all pads are in the 2,54mm grid, in the PCB editor not all.

[RaptorUK]

@muekno

As you can see in the footprint editor all pads are in the 2,54mm grid, in the PCB editor not all.

It looks like you have a 1mm grid set in the PCB Editor, do you ?

[jmk]

@RaptorUK

It looks like you have a 1mm grid set in the PCB Editor, do you ?

I don’t know about 1mm, but they are certainly different.

@muekno

It is not possible to know without the information referred to by @RaptorUK

[paulvdh]

@muekno

As you can see in the footprint editor all pads are in the 2,54mm grid,

No, I can not see that on your screenshot. I can see some grid, but I don’t know what resolution it is. The discrepancy seems to be compatible with a 1mm grid in the footprint editor and a 2.54mm grid in the PCB editor but there is no way to be sure from the cropped screenshots you posted.

It’s very easy / quick to zoom in or out in KiCad and a scale of 1:1 does not make much sense anyway. Combine those and it’s very easy to loose track of your overall scale. KiCad has several measurement tools

• Numbers in the bottom info bar (reset the dx and dy with the spacebar)
• Ruler.
• Dimensions you can put on the PCB in an auxillary user layer.

And you can occasionally print your project on paper to get a grip on the scale. I recently bought a bunch of uC’s in TSSOP20 and SMPS IC’s in sot23-6 and now my 0805 resistors suddenly look huge. A stray DIP-8 has suddenly become extremely Godzilla like.

[tutorial] Test fitting Footprints

A small demo to show how I test fit footprints. It’s a combination of a few things to make it work perfectly. The first step is to print a PCB mirrored on a piece of Paper: PcbNew → File → Print → Options Mirror → Print. 2nd step: Take a needle and pre-punch all the mounting holes into the paper. (For the large holes I used a hole punch). 3rd step: Carefully put the connector into the sheet of paper. 4th step: Take a picture or scan the whole contraption with a flatbed scanner. This make…

[muekno]

I am shure I have 2,54mm, right click on the grid icon, properties and on both grid setting are 2,54mm, just double checked it.

[muekno]

Sorry, in the bottom line there is 1mm, just saw it, but in the grid setting there is 2.54mmm, and in the top line there 1mm too, just recognized it.

But for what is the setting in the grid button when it does not work, meaning do not really change the grid properties?

[jmk]

Inside the magenta box are Grid on/off, polar/cartesian, grid units available.
Red arrow (and bottom of screen) show current grid.
Left click black arrow in current grid box (red arrow) will show list of grids (cyan arrow) with current grid in use ticked.
Left click on the grid you want from the cyan arrow list to change grid.

Another method:
Right mouse click on an empty part of the work space will show green arrowed box. Left click on Grid will also show list of grids (cyan arrow)

There is much more information here:https://docs.kicad.org/

[muekno]

Thank you for clearing

[paulvdh]

Also, which KiCad version? I’ve been experimenting with KiCad-Nightly V7.99 for a few days now and this has a few nice and powerful, but also a bit confusing settings for the grids. You can set up different grids for different types of objects (all separate in the different programs in the KiCad suite).

But overall, if coordinates are important, you should not solely rely on the grid, and at least verify your positions with one of the many other measurement methods in KiCad. Yet another is to look at the pad properties. The Pad properties shows pad locations in the current selected units.

Another detail: The title of this thread turned out to be quite wrong. Your Footprint did not change, there was only a interpretation difficulty due to different grids. Will you modify the title to reflect this?

[Piotr]

@muekno

But for what is the setting in the grid button when it does not work,

What is ‘grid button’ ?
I can’t find (KiCad 7.0.10) any place where grid is shown different than it really is, but I understand that there is such place where you …
I got it.
Even I use KiCad since 2017 I have never right-clicked at grid icon but always selected grid from top toolbar.
If someone don’t know that User grid is only its definition and not selection it can be misleading.
That window should be not shown or it should contain also current selection.
This is inconsistent as Grid Origin set in that box works just after you click [OK] button, but User Grid you set there don’t works after [OK] button. I think such differently working settings should not be arranged together in one window as it misleads the user.
I had no such doubts as I always entered this window through top toolbar and … “Edit User Grid…” so I knew that I am editing and not setting it (as selection was the other position at grids list).

[muekno]

KiCad Version latest stable KiCad 7

Wich grid button, on the left side, of the window there tools buttons, from
up to down
Grid, coordinate system, inch. mil, mm, …
the icon/button on top I mean