Creating custom footprints in PCB Design - Dashboard Building Guide

Dashboard Mode - Creating custom footprints

Goal

Understand how to create and analyze custom footprints for PCB components to ensure proper fit and connectivity.

Sample Data: Custom Footprint Dimensions and Properties

Component	Pad Count	Pad Diameter (mm)	Pad Spacing (mm)	Footprint Area (mm²)	Pin Pitch (mm)
Resistor_0805	2	1.0	3.2	10.24	3.2
Capacitor_0603	2	0.8	1.6	4.0	1.6
IC_DIP8	8	1.5	2.54	50.8	2.54
LED_SMD	2	1.2	2.0	6.4	2.0
Connector_4pin	4	1.8	2.54	25.8	2.54

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Average Pad Diameter
  Formula: Average of 'Pad Diameter (mm)' column
  Result: (1.0 + 0.8 + 1.5 + 1.2 + 1.8) / 5 = 1.26 mm
• KPI Card: Total Pad Count
  Formula: Sum of 'Pad Count' column
  Result: 2 + 2 + 8 + 2 + 4 = 18 pads
• Bar Chart: Footprint Area by Component
  X-axis: Component
  Y-axis: Footprint Area (mm²)
  Shows size comparison of footprints
• Table: Filtered Footprints with Pin Pitch & Pad Spacing
  Shows components with Pin Pitch >= 2.0 mm
  Includes columns: Component, Pin Pitch, Pad Spacing

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
| Average Pad Diameter  | Total Pad Count      |
|      (KPI Card)      |      (KPI Card)      |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                                              |
|          Footprint Area by Component (Bar)   |
|                                              |
+----------------------------------------------+
|                                              |
|  Filtered Footprints Table (Pin Pitch & Pad) |
|                                              |
+----------------------------------------------+
  

Interactivity

User can apply a filter on Pin Pitch to show only footprints with pin pitch greater than or equal to a selected value.

This filter updates the Filtered Footprints Table and the Footprint Area Bar Chart to reflect only the filtered components.

The KPI cards remain static as they show overall averages and totals.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Pin Pitch >= 2.54 mm, which components remain visible in the table and bar chart?

Answer: IC_DIP8 and Connector_4pin remain because their Pin Pitch is 2.54 mm.

Key Result

Dashboard shows custom PCB footprint sizes, pad counts, and pin pitch comparisons for components.