I use Eagle, full version, commercial. Creating library parts is not=20 difficult at all, but for $1, this is a no brainer. Even for $11, it's=20 not worth my time to do these myself. FWIW, I do things a bit differently, such as for QFN packages, I extend=20 the pads outwards a bit more so we can hand-solder prototypes very=20 easily with an iron. It doesn't take much -- just an extra mm outwards=20 for each pad on a 6mm x 6mm QFN is enough. Must look into this. Thanks for the info. Cheers, -Neil. On 12/24/2015 1:23 PM, Dwayne Reid wrote: > Good day to all. > > As I may have mentioned in the past, I do all of my PCB layouts in > either EE Designer II or CADint (the successor to EE Designer). Both > are awesome packages but I still prefer to use EE Designer II for > most of my larger layouts. > > Anyway, I'm working of a new project that uses small SMD components > such as the PIC uQFN packages. I have to use CADint for these tight > layouts - the default grid in EE Designer is far too coarse. > > I was about to sit down and create the footprint myself but decided > to see if Google might find a suitable CADint footprint already done for = me. > > I didn't find anything suitable but DID stumble across a company that > I had never heard of previously. These people's only business is > making software for creating PCB footprints as well as allowing > access to their footpring library of more than a million parts. They > call themselves "PCB Libraries". Website is . > > They offer their service in one of two different ways. > > The lowest entry cost is to download their software called "POD > Builder" - the acronym POD stands for Part On Demand. You have to > purchase credits in order to actually download any footprints - > minimum of US $50 ($1 per credit). Existing footprints cost one > credit each (US $1) and they will create a custom (brand-new) > footprint for 11 credits (US $11) if the part that you are looking > for doesn't already exist in their parts database. > > If you need a lot of footprints or if you want to update your > existing footprints to follow the latest IPC standards, you are > better off purchasing a license for their package called PCB Library > Expert. This is software that creates footprints for you, following > the settings that you specify in the options. There are MANY > settings - most of options default to one of the IPC standards but > you are free to change any of them. > > The software also allows you to access the library of more than 1 > million parts already existing. What's really cool is the parts that > you download from the library are automatically massaged to fit the > settings that you specified in the software options. Really, seriously c= ool. > > The cost of a single-user license (USB dongle protected) ranges from > US $499 to not quite $2000, depending on which CAD package you are > using the footprints in. My license for CADint will cost me US $499. > > They offer versions for many of the minor and major PCB > layout-software vendors: Altium, Eagle, DIPtrace, Design Spark, about > a dozen others. > > However, the reason for my posting this long message is this: if any > of you are currently using PADS PCB layout software, the license cost > is currently FREE instead of US > $1099. > > Only PADS, unfortunately. > > Hope that someone finds this useful. > > dwayne > --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .