Creating New Component

Help
1

Hi. I’m very new to LibrePCB so I’m sure I’m making a basic error while trying to make a new component. I’m just a home hobbyist and I use the Toner Transfer method to make PCBs. Because of this I like large pads and clearances for the THT parts I use. I’ve made a TO-92 transistor with ‘wider’ spacing and it shows up correctly in the Schematic Add Component window, but reverts to the default spacing when I select it in the PCB Layout Add Component. What am I doing wrong?

export
export1363×1025 121 KB

2

Hi,
It’s hard to tell without knowing exactly how you created the new device, but I have an assumption. Did you modify the transistor device or package in the library after you already used it in your project? In that case, the device & package have been copied into the project already, and the board editor will use those bundled library elements instead of the (updated) elements from your library. In this case, you should delete all those transistors from your schematic and re-add them.

If this doesn’t help, it would be good to know more details how exactly you created the custom transistor.

By the way, for your use-case, my suggestion would actually be to add an additional footprint to our already existing TO-92 package, since this way you can reuse all of our devices out-of-the-box with your own footprint. You will have your own footprint available even for upcoming TO-92 devices which we may add in future. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the LibrePCB Base library in the library editor
  2. Right-click on the “TO-92” package and choose “Move to other library”
  3. Choose your own, local library → this will copy the package into your own library
  4. Open the copied “TO-92” package in your own, local library
  5. Set its version number to e.g. 999 (this will make LibrePCB always using your copy of the package, not the one from LibrePCB Base)
  6. Add your custom footprint to the package (you may set it as the default footprint by moving it up to the first item in the list)

After you saved the package, it will override the “TO-92” package from our Base library, so the board editor will use it automatically.

Note: Do not modify/delete the other footprints in that package, this could cause serious problems in future.

Also note that it is a very special case that we have separate packages for “TO-92” and “TO-92-WIDE”, normally we have only one package with different footprints for the same package. In this case we made an exception because the TO92 package is sold with two different pin spacings, so we consider them as different packages. I’d recommend you to modify the “TO-92” package, not “TO-92-WIDE”, since “TO-92” is much more common and will be used by more devices.

3

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply. It’s impossible for me to say how and when I created my custom footprint because I’ve tried so many things I’ve lost track. I have been experimenting and might well have done lots of things wrong. When I eventually learn more about LibrePCB I’ll remove the whole package and reinstall from new. I think I see that a version 2 might be available soon anyway. In the meantime I’ll try what you have suggested in your reply. Many thanks again.

1 Like
4

Alright, no problem :slight_smile: Just let me know if something is not clear with my suggested workflow.