Hi All, I have been using kicad for a couple weeks now in my spare time. I have a couple questions I would like to get some feedback on from people who have been using it for a while.
1. Mapping from schema components to part footprints. I have seen the tutorial where this is done in cvpcb, but that is ok for a once off, but no good for a design you want to iterate on. So I have been putting the footprint reference in the [Component Properties]->Fields->Footprint Value. This is great because it pre-populates cvpcb. But is it a best practice or should I look into the equivalence files? 2. It seems to me that I would like to select my footprint libraries and equivalence files depending on my expected physical output. For example I may design a circuit and test it out using an at home toner transfer method where I want to have nice large oval pads and wider spacing, maybe through hole rather then smt components ect. But then once it is working and I am comfortable I would want to change my target output to a PCB manufacturing shop and I could use smaller pads, finer clearance and smt devices. Is there a way of doing this kind of thing in Kicad? I seem to spend a lot of time altering footprint libraries to be more suitable to home made PCB's but I will want to switch back to the standard footprints at some stage. 3. How does the kicad project manage part libraries. There are parts missing from the core download though they are sometimes available elsewhere. Is there a way for contributors to submit parts for peer review and inclusion in the product build? Also it seems that there are a couple libraries that are delivered but are not used by default. What are they for? Many thanks in advance for your help. Kind Regards C.
