Time spent making footprints

[belaBartok]

Hi all,

I am somewhat new to pcb layout.  I am currently using KiCad.  My question is somewhat general.  At first when I couldn't find a schematic symbol or footprint in the library, I would spend alot (too much) of time looking for footprints or symbol on the internet.  As I've gone along I just tend to make them myself more. How much time do you spend making parts or footprints vs wiring/layout or finding the part online in a library somewhere?

Thanks!

[mazurov]

I draw my own footprints, when necessary (in Eagle).

[jeroen74]

Only when it's a bigger device with many pins like FPGAs I tend to look for ready made symbols.

[Simon]

I have drawn quite a few schematic symbols for kicad as many of the provided ones are wrong or not there. I have done one footprint for pcb for an amp24 plug but I kostly manage to download what I need, http://www.kicadlib.org/ is about as close as you will get to official libraries, they are fairly good but takes some searching particularly as people call same footprints different things. I'm still trying to understand how to manage footprint libraries (that in my case seem to have one symbol only), for the sachematics I have the library on my USB stick and carry it around with me so that I always have one consistent library to draw from for certain parts. Beware that editing symbols n situ can mean that the part reverts back when you reopen the scematic of pcb as the defaults are taken again. If you need something different make it different and use it from the start.

[dr_p]

[...]for the schematics I have the library on my USB stick and carry it around with me so that I always have one consistent library to draw from for certain parts.[...]

I have a custom library of components in a Dropbox folder on two computers (work and home). I use Express PCB, but the principle stays the same. I've set up both installations so the custom lybrary folder points to the Dropbox folder. So I create and use a component at work, then go home and it's there too, ready for use.

[Simon]

That is a good idea, although I used a "cloud" folder before and the performance was awful, maybe I should try something else, it won't be a problem for the libraries but I was having problems for larger files.

[Jon Chandler]

In my experience, Dropbox is just sort of magic.  I can save something upstairs and by the time I walk downstairs it's available on my other computer.  It's not a bandwidth hog either.

One thing to watch out for is leaving a file open in a program that periodically saves the file even if no changes have been made (TinyCAD is what comes to mind).  You'll see Dropbox updating every few minutes when this happens; at least the updates are small - somehow Dropbox only transmits the changes to the file.

[Simon]

are we talking free dropbox or the paid one ? it could be that it will work directly between computers on a network and update the "clould" copy in the background, my upstream speed is 700 KB/s so I have problems with cloud stuff

[dr_p]

the free stuff, and it doesn't really burden the connection. I have similar external bandwidth.

[peter.mitchell]

Dropbox does LAN sync, so at home between computers it should be fast, and with documents, i know it just sends the "diff"? of a file so it is pretty darn hasty, also, it does hashes of all of your files you put in your box, so if you put a file in your box that has the same hash as a file already in Dropbox, it will just add the "hash" to your list of files, so it will "upload instantly". These "features" are present in both the free and paid version. I'm pretty sure Dropbox limits it's speed, uploads will generally max my upload (100kb/s) but i'm not sure about yours, for download though, for me it limits to 250kb/s~ (Note, I live in Australia, so maybe it will be better for you). This is really quite tolerable, even for large files, because it does it all in the background.

[T4P]

If it uses a diff file it's a SVN-based or probably SVN system isn't it?
They are the best option for clouds as far i know

[Jon Chandler]

The only difference between the paid & free versions of Dropbox is the amount of storage available, and some differences in archiving deleted files.

I store all my "Dev" stuff on Dropbox.  This way it's available on all my computers or via the web from any computer and it's all backed up.

Also, in this way I always use the same libraries.