We’ve recently been in contact with the folks at PCB Libraries (See this thread for history). They sell a footprint generator for many common (and less common) types of footprints.
They’ve decided to make the KiCad version of their software free for use. A couple people on the KiCad team have had a look at the generated footprints and they seem of decent quality. But we haven’t tested extensively.
If anyone is up for it, I would love to get more feedback on this tool. Setting up the license tripped me up but there are instructions posted here. The footprints are not eligible for inclusion in the KiCad library due to their licensing constraints but they may be useful for KiCad users.
Please let me know if you do test this tool and find any issues with the KiCad footprints it generates.
I have a question about the generated footprints. How close are they to our own KLC? I.E. would a design with mixed footprints between KiCad provided jellybean parts and PCBLibrary for custom parts (connectors, switches, relays, etc) look similar enough on both screen and finished PCB that it doesn’t stand out? AFAIK both KLC and PCBLibrary strive for compatibility with IPC-7351, but I know from experience two different organizations trying to conform to the same standard can interpret the standard at least two different ways…
Also, for preparing boards for PnP, PCBLibrary claims compatibility with IEC 61188.7 for zero orientation. Is this compatible (or can be made compatible by potentially choosing different options from that IEC spec within PCBLibrary) with KLC? All the standards names are a bit of an alphabet soup to me…
That reminds me… Is there a revised version of KLC nearing publication now that v6.0 has been tagged RC1? I’m not looking for detailed timelines. Just someone who should know to say something to the effect of “Yeah, it is being finalized”, or “Yeah, going through final edits”, or even “Oh, crap. I should really get on that, shouldn’t I?”
