Hi,
I need to have these leds from adafruit (NeoPixel Addressable RGB LEDs - Slim Flat 3.2mm x 1.0mm 10 pack [SK6812-EC3210F] : ID 4892 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits) placed by JLCPCB as they are small and I need a flex PCB
when I go to JLCPBC, I find a corresponding part
but their available footprint is EasyEDA. So I’ll remake the footprint
are there any consideration if I want JLCPCB to do the parts placement, especially using my custom made footprints ?
thanks
You can do you own footprint and use jlcpcb for part placement. There is no real issue.
The only trick is to find out the proper orientation of the footprint to match the orientation expected by JLCPB.
But usually they show you the orientation of the part when you check the PCB before ordering, so you can correct your footprint to match.
Or you can also import the easyEDA footprint in Kicad. in kicad 8, you can import it natively.
Or you can also use a plugin to import the footprint.
JLCPCB doesn’t know whether you have used a custom footprint or one from the KiCad library, or any other library for that matter. All that matters is that the footprint maches the part and that the position and orientation (this often needs correction) are correct.
Or you may just import the easyEDA footprint, but do check it against the datasheet, just in case.
EasyEda is not free and I dont want to use Altium Designer
I dont see how I could export that to Kicad
KiCad has direct import of EasyEDA “stuff” (projects, schematic, PCB, symbol / footprit libraries?)
I have not used this myself though, don’t know how well it works (or at all).
Apparently it is not that simple
we got to use a plugin or something
Why not?
That reddit link is over 2 years old. KiCad makes huge changes in 2 years.
Even before I read your post I was a bit curious and searched github for an easy eda project, and I found:
paul@cezanne:~$ git clone https://github.com/A4091/a4091-hardware.git
And after fiddling a bit around I managed to import the project into KiCad. Both a
Unfortunately there is a bug in KiCad V8.0.3 that mixes up projects when attempting to import. The bug is already reported and fixed. See Eagle 9.6.0 Importer: Plugin does not implement the "GetError" function. (#18241) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab for more info. I guess it will be completely resolved when KiCad V8.0.4 is released (There is already a release candidate).
In the meantime this workaround for the bug seems to work:
The import is not flawless though.
The PCB I imported looks very plausible (has all tracks, footprints and more) but footprint information in the schematic symbol is missing. There also are problems with annotation. Fixing those problems manually would be quite a bore for a project as big as that amiga SCSI card, but for a small project it’s not such a big deal.
But it is free?
Go to your symbol, then choose File → Save As → Document Save as (Local). This gives you the .elibz file with both the symbol and footprint.
Add this .elibz file to KiCad using “Manage Symbol Libraries…” and “Manage Footprint Libraries…” dialogs:
Alternatively, you can use import footprint/symbol functionality to add it to your own library (.efoo footprints can also be imported in this case):
Putting both PCB and SCH json files in a zip file, then importing as a project from the project manager should work…
Importing PCB/SCH separately shouldn’t be done if there’s project import available.
This does indeed seem to work, and it circumvents the bug with the filenames / projects I mentioned earlier. The project still does not import cleanly. It has the same issues (Footprint information missing in schematic symbols, problems with annotation (Easy EDA annotation is not compatible with KiCad), malformed outline for the PCB.)
But also, as dsa-t already mentioned. if you’re only interested in one footprint, then just adding that as a library and using it is a better option and importing a whole project is a bit extreme.
then why dont I have a choice but to click on “free trial” on the JLCPCB site ?
that was indeed easy 
thanks for the time spent explaining this
I added this to my footprint library
yet I must be doing something wrong, the foot print cannot be found
these are not the footprint I downloaded
???
Your screenshot does not make much sense. The place to add the libraries, is to the library table, and that looks quite different from what your screenshot shows. You need to add your library to: Preferences / Manage Footprint Libraries. It looks like:
(Note, menu’s can look a bit different, depending on your OS, and other settings, but the general layout should not change.
I know but I cannot find any footprint even by typing JLC…
previous screenshot showed the actual file, 5kb should contain stuffs
If you click on the KiCad text in the Library Format column, then a menu pops up which lets you choose between library formats.
Something like this:
Just go to Footprint Editor, Import the footprint from .elibz:
Then click on the canvas to get focus, then Save into your JLCPCB library:
does not work, as I set it to EasyEda pro or std, then click ok
as I go back to that window, th elibrary is back to Kicad
ok finally, after importing it works !!
thanks guys, you’re the best !!
Instead of what Paul suggested, if you want to add non-KiCad footprints to the library table, it’s almost always better to use these buttons:
And for symbol library table:
for some reason as I import it to my library, after saving, it also asks to save the original footprint for some reason (did not even modified anything), as I add it too, to my library, I get 2 of them in my library
must be a bug because if I discard the changes, none of them are added in my lib
this does not make any sense
pretty sure I had that before
