How to design custom Footprints & Symbols in Kicad 

The Intro itself deserves an applause!

So refreshing, a tutorial that gets straight to the meat of the matter instead of a dawn-of-time lecture breakdown of every single aspect. Thank you.

Great video! I would definitely recommend adding a "pin 1" indicator on the silkscreen - often a dot, line or arrow near pin 1 on the silk screen. This will help during assembly to correctly orient the chip which is important in symmetric designs. Also recommend adding a border on the silkscreen and a courtyard to prevent accidentally placing components too close together during layout. Take a look at footprints from the standard library as a guide.

My god man, liking and commenting for the algorithm but you make this so concise and usable. A thousand thanks. I was dreading making symbols/footprints just because I hadn't done it yet and knew I needed to. Thanks to you I've just made several, and they were all a breeze. You get a like and a sub, but if I could like this video 10x I absolutely would. I'll have a look at your other videos and I'm very much looking forward to that.

Thumbs up man! The best one I've seen. Others are complicated, long explanations and long intro's. And some of them don't even work. Just what I needed. Quick, no overly complicated instructions, simple and right to the point. Got me making custom parts in no time! Thanks

Not only do you make the best KiCad videos, you have a good voice too.

Very clear and right to the point. Nice intro too. Thanks man.

Thanks - that was very thorough and clear!

3 parts videos of 40 min, explained almost everything in KiCAD. I struggled by myself for 3 days to figure out how to create symbole and footprint for my NodeMCU. Thanks

good tutorial I'm following this 12:20 "U?," suggests that the component is currently unknown or undecided. Some notes according to chat gpt Here's an example to illustrate the usage of the default reference designation "U" in KiCad: U1: Represents the first integrated circuit or microcontroller in the schematic. U2: Represents the second integrated circuit or microcontroller in the schematic. U3, U4, U5, and so on: Represent additional integrated circuits or microcontrollers in the schematic. U: Typically used for integrated circuits and microcontrollers. R: Used for resistors. C: Used for capacitors. L: Used for inductors. D: Used for diodes. Q: Used for transistors. J: Used for connectors. SW: Used for switches. LED: Used for LEDs. X: Used for special components or modules. S: This prefix can be used to denote a general sensor component. For instance, you could use S1, S2, S3, and so on, to represent different sensors in the schematic. T: This prefix is often used for temperature sensors. So, you might use T1, T2, T3, and so on, for temperature sensor reference designators. P: If you have pressure sensors in your design, you could use the prefix P. For example, P1, P2, P3, and so on, could be used to represent different pressure sensors.

Perfect explanation. Thank-you so much.

Thank you for your guidance brother. This is really useful to me.

Thanks man, exactly what I needed :)

Awesome intro, incredible explanation.

Very good tutorial, thank you. I’m trying to learn kicad after using eagle for years, I need to build a replacement LED display for a broken Gas Discharge Display of a Datron 1062 multimeter, I found the display was cracked whilst doing a live stream yesterday trying to repair the unit (I buy broken test gear to do videos about fixing them) the 120mm board size limit in eagle meant I can’t use it to do it ! Was surprised to find a fellow NZ RU-vidr, almost a good opportunity for a collaboration. I have already reverse engineered the display and figured out how to modify the unit to use LED, I just need to get my head around kicad so I can make the boards.

Very useful and well done video, thanks

Great work, man!

Great tutorial!

Very good, detailed explanation of aligning the footprint pads, my friend! Most videos don't show this much detail, so kudos to you. One suggestion, though. I was following your vid to modify an existing J-lead package (TSOC-6) for a Maxim DS2423 counter chip to extend the length on the X-axis because the footprint I was using had the pads RIGHT UNDER the package and I wasn't sure I could hand solder this. And I noticed after using the modified footprint and trying to reconnect the lands that the pad origins needed to be put back to the center of the pads. I really liked your presentation and the only thing I can add is to put the pad origins back to where they were and THEN save the footprint in a library.

Just what I needed ;) Thanks

really good has helped me loads thank you

Nice video, well done,thanks for sharing it with us :)

Helpful video 👍

Thank you very much!!

appreciate your tutorial. could you please provide a tutorial about the pcb layers? i am trying to create a custom footprint and symbol for a silicone touchpad and I am quite struggling with it.

Perfect intro

Thanks for the video! So if you assign the footprint as explained, then you don't have to do it later in the schematic editor dialog? I suppose that step is optional, since you can do it individually if you so prefer?

Excellent KiCad intro videos. I’ve finally decided to jump into KiCad after years of using various other EDA tools. Question: Is there a standard mechanism / hosting site for sharing user created KiCad symbols and footprints? It would seem a crazy duplication of effort if everyone has to “reinvent the wheel” designing symbols and footprints (and 3D models) for components that are not in the standard installed libraries. I’ve only just started, but Google hasn’t answered this for me (yet). Cheers.

this is the best educational video I have watched in a long time, I am really curious why there is no option to have a single layer board, the software forces to have 2???

Excellent tutorial, thanks! But I can't find a way to change the Shape Offset in KiCad 7 - has it been deleted?

Thnaks that was helpfull.

Great work but I completed my schematic and the software isn't providing the option to update the schematic to pcb editor what should I do ? Anyone knows?

How can you resize the symbol you just created?

Aw Yeah, the future!

I'd love to get my own pcb boards made but I can't reason with the $25 remote area charge on a $2 item.

How do you create a negative print with Kicad?

So I followed you on thos video. Did what you did and I can not get traces to connect to anything. If I start on a pad the wire will not stay put or even connect to anything. I get an error(4)

Can I create components to make a wiring diagram?

Why did you not include solder mask and resist openings area while creating this footprint ?

good expilcation

I need to add Vacuum Tube symbols to my library. Don't know how, don't even know where to start! Can you help?

Given the 2mm long pads, could you, instead of modifying the origins, have set the X pitch to 3.6mm instead?

i like this dudes sponsor bits :D ... i still don't know what a pay-say-bay is though... my guess it's an upside-down pcb?

special thank from a french student who wants to use an odd package from infineon in his project !

Layout with KiCAD.

Nice tutorial, but I do it slightly differently. By having user defined grids you run the risk of your footprints not being in synch with your design grid. In my opinion you're better of defining everything on say a 50um grid - but it's really a matter of personal preference - always many ways to skin a cat.

why you put 2 mm on the pad if datasheet don t say so ?

good opening, like me.

Thank you for this great video but if you can pronounce clearly the words because many times we have repeat back the video attempting to figure out the words and terms you are saying.

How do you add 3D to your new custom component?

lmao caveman no likey when led go boomboom

I rarely create PCB myself, but I often have to tweak them. I see all the time how different people come up with their own pitfalls when making boards. And now i understand the logic of those who make crap like 8:00 ! Some unknown force forces people to change the grid to 1.6 (just as an example from here), and then move separately the centres of the platforms. to what?! to be tied to the grid 1.6? WHYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?! Just calculate the centre-to-centre spacing of the pads!!!! IS THAT SO HARD!?!?!? And then make a 0.1 grid and put it where you want it! DO NOT move the centres of the pads from 0/0. god damn it. It's so so so so SO infuriating.

WTF