3

Queston: Is there a way in KiCAD to associate components with their respective footprints in a sane manner using CvPcb?

The CvPcb displays three columns that feels comfortable at the first moment but when the component doesn't have the proper value it is very difficult to find the right footprint. I was manually scanning the libraries.

Is there a "search" option hidden somewhere? Is it fine to define specific phrases as the value of the component (since it seems to be the only way to filter)?

sitilge
  • 3,687
  • 4
  • 30
  • 56

2 Answers2

3

No, there is not a search option or function in KiCAD to do this. A thing you can do, is use the filter buttons at the top of the CvPCB window. These buttons help you to find by pin number, description, and library. However, sometimes the footprint is not found when the pin count does not match. For example, if you have a 4 pin push button, you wont find the footprint but you can use the 2 pin footprint. Also, you can create your own footprints using the Footprint editor, then use the Library manager to import your custom library.

For more information, you can look at: https://docs.kicad.org/5.1/en/cvpcb/cvpcb.html#_cvpcb_commands

Best regards.

Seth
  • 2,683
  • 18
  • 18
GTRONICK
  • 366
  • 4
  • 14
1

In more recent versions of Kicad (looking at 5.1 here), there is a 'filter by name' selector and a search box where you can search for footprint names.

enter image description here

You could enter, for example TO-92 in the box which will return a series of THT footprints suitable for a TO-92 device. You need to ensure that none of the other three selector buttons (limit by symbol keyword, library or pincount) are active. You can only search by package name not by device name in CvPCB i.e. you can search for a 'TO-92' footprint but not for a BC548 (a transistor in a TO-92) package.

Gasman
  • 63
  • 8