The foot prints from the main fp library didn’t have anything close to a connection part being used. So I downloaded digikey add-on library which actually sell the part used. I have the mfg #, the digikey # but again can’t find the right one to use. The connector is .1 lead pitch with 2 pins on one connection part and 10 pins on the other. The schematic symbol seems correct, but matching it to the footprint is way off.
Part one is pheonix contact #1729128 2pos wire to board coonector
digikey #277-1273-nd PCB shows as footprint 1/2 inch long by .4 inch wide and 3d view confirms as a 2 pos pin connector rather than a 2 terminal screw connector so I know I have the wrong footprint selected.
Same goes for the other part at 10 pins wide.
I find a connector with a pitch of 5.08mm which is twice the 0.1" you suggest. So what is it?
Also, if you know the size specifications of your connector, it’s quite easy to make a Footprint from scratch in KiCad. It has a quite good Footprint Editor. The essence of a footprint is not much more then a row of pads and some silkscreen graphics.
There will always be parts for which there are no footprints yet. Learn to make them yourself if needed. Once you’ve learned it (not that hard) you’ll probably make a footprint yourself if you can’t find it within 5 minutes on the 'net.
Also, if you open the Footprint Editor, there is a search box on the top. Your connector is apparently from the MKDSN series. Is MKDS good enough?
(I have not looked at the differences)
I agree. I think that making footprints is an important part of pcb design, and doing so in KiCad is not difficult. Even if you find a footprint, it might not be the best footprint for your purposes. I like to enlarge (especially corner) SMT IC pads for hand soldering.
I agree it isn’t impossible to create a footprint just very time consuming. Did make one for a tiny square trimmer pot which I measured using a caliper. Then in footprint editor built it useng the caliper measurements only to find it was 10 times larger when placed on the pcb. caliper said 7mm between pins at the bottom and 8 mm from bottom to top pin. In footprint designer I had do it as 0.7mm x 0.8mm which puzzled me. in comparison an 8pin dip socket is slightly larger than the pot so I knew I had things finally adjusted right when it appeared on the pcb the correct size comparing with the dip socket.
To confirm I had things right I printed the pcb layout and verified the pins match the pads on the parts. For the connectors, I don’t have yet so measuring them isn’t possible but document says 0.1 pitch which if this refers to inches would be 2.54mm and would seem to make sense. Because I had trouble with the trim pot I just figured I would ask about finding the right footprint as the naming convention leaves me guessing (how many pins, body size, pitch between pins etc).
Same here.
I have never encountered such a scaling error in KiCad, so I don’t know what happened.
I also don’t agree with this.
If you’ve got the measurements (for example from a datasheet) and have done a few footprints before, then making a footprint for such a single row connector would be 5 minutes or less. Especially if you use one of the built in wizards of the Footprint Editor.
Yes paulvdh that is the part 2pos connector. and gives .2 inch spacing as you suggest. Don’t know where I got the .1" from, just know when I grabbed my notes I had written .1" and th line above said 8pin dip ,1" and above that was pin headers at .1" pitch too. We know that connector is the right one so I will try to find MKDS connector with the 5.08 footprint. Thanks.
I am less than a week or so into using kicad as I am coming from manual drafted PCB’s where I would measure parts, use rub on pads and patterns and a host of line thicknesses for inter-connections. Then send the proofs off to get line-negatives which I now hope do in-house using transfer film & neg-photoresist treated boards.
I saw the wizards but didn’t know what they were about. Saw a list of different wizards and had no clue which would do me good so just cancelled and made from scratch doing a lot of guessing.
I suggest you look into a tutorial for creating footprints. One example could be the one I made Tutorial: How to make a footprint in KiCad 5.1.x? but there are others out there including some on youtube if you prefer videos.
And regarding your scaling issue: is it possible you set kicad to metric and entered in Imperial or vise versa? (Kicad out of the box is metric. The file format is metric. So I suspect there are less issues for metric users in general but I can not judge this as I never work in Imperial)
