Pad shapes are becoming increasingly more complex on many new devices. When defining a new component, the standard pad options are insufficient in many cases. The suggested solution for this is to associate a shape with a pad in the symbol editor. This is ok when the shape is relatively simple, but not so useful when the shape is complex. 6 months ago I had to define a symbol with 200+ custom defined pads... That was 200+ shapes, each of which had to be associated individually with 200+pads... I am now working on a symbol that has a number of pads with extremely complex shapes... Particularly frustrating is the fact that there is apparently no way to position a complex shape with coordinates as can be done with a pad; and, no way to group a shape with a pad in the symbol editor. This means that there isn't an easy way to replicate and subsequently rotate and reposition a complex pad to a new location using coordinates. This is extremely frustrating. I spent hours laying out a new component this evening only to have windows quit on me... Long story short, in light of the fact that component manufacturers no longer feel obliged to use standard footprints, we need a method of defining a complex pad shape that can be subsequently used in a pcb symbol design... So, just as you can design a 'new PCB symbol', you should also be able to design a 'new PCB pad'...
--- Steve |
PAD Definitions
Posted - 06 Feb 2017 : 03:11:58
