Component orientation in Pick and Place file

[patrik.marcacci]

Some of the components in my design have a different centroid orientation compared to the one in the reel.

How can I change the orientation of my components (ideally in the library) so that the PnP export CSV is correct?

Is there a "orientation/rotation" field somewhere in the library that is applied during export?

(Note: I don't want to rotate the components on my board, they are fine)

Thank you!

[rachaelATWH4]

This problem stems from inconsistent library creation. Are these in your own created libraries or do you use external library sources. In either case you need to make sure you are consistent with how they are oriented. You need to rotate the footprint in the library, then update the PCB and rotate it back to correct for the library change. Unfortunately it's a library issue which is going lead to a lot of rework potentially to correct.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[patrik.marcacci]

That seems like a lot of work just to change a number in the CSV file.

Isn't there a device property to define the reel orientation to be used when exporting the PnP?

It seems to me that this would be the correct way to do it instead of rotating the actual component in the libraries and on the PCB.

These are libraries that I downloaded from the manufacturer but I have come across the problem in the bundled Eagle libraries too.

[rachaelATWH4 · Accepted solution]

This is a problem which exists across all ECAD packages. You have to define a consistent orientation somewhere and the library is the correct place to define it then it's correct wherever you use the part. There is an IPC standard which defines the Zero Orientation of parts in the part library.

IPC-7351 : Electronic Component Zero Orientation For CAD Library Construction 

Unfortunately you get what you pay for and when you use free libraries you cannot guarantee they have been designed correctly. You need to do so much checking that free in cost almost always costs more than it's worth in time. The bundled libraries are just a collection of libraries from many different sources which have been gathered over 30+ years of EAGLE's existence and as such are an inconsistent mess. In addition, the free libraries from manufacturers are often also inconsistent and error ridden, even when they come from big and reputable manufacturers.

So unfortunately the answer is fix your libraries, fix your boards, and this will fix your build problems.

Fortunately the IPC package generator which is part of EAGLE and Fusion Electronics does obey they IPC conventions so anything you create with these will build correctly. =

Best Regards,

Rachael

[patrik.marcacci]

Yes, I learned the hard way that I should pay more attention to the reel information and not trust the libraries. My bad.

Still, I think that there should be an easier way to change the orientation, as a device property in the library. Without having to actually rotate the thing everywhere, since it's only used by the PnP export and it would mess up all the projects where the component is used.

Ex. A field "Reel Orientation = 180"

I actually created the package with the generator but that's just the 3D package so how is that related to the footprint? Or am I missing something?

Thanks a lot for your answers,

Patrik

[rachaelATWH4]

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@patrik.marcacci wrote:

I actually created the package with the generator but that's just the 3D package so how is that related to the footprint? Or am I missing something?

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The IPC package generator in EAGLE which I would imagine is the same as in Fusion Electronics and on Library.io creates both the footprint and the 3D model as a pair for a large number of different types of components based on the parameters you provide. It can't do all types of footprints but it does a lot. I've built up a lot of my more recent libraries using this generator (with some manual tweaks for things like the mask opening for BGA's and sorting the font type/size) and I never have issues with component orientation because they are all generated consistently to the IPC specs.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[rachaelATWH4 · Accepted solution]

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@patrik.marcacci wrote:

Still, I think that there should be an easier way to change the orientation, as a device property in the library. Without having to actually rotate the thing everywhere, since it's only used by the PnP export and it would mess up all the projects where the component is used.

Ex. A field "Reel Orientation = 180"

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Also, you could solve this in this way if you really needed to but it's not simple. You could add a custom attribute to the part in the library to specify its mounting orientation, then take a copy of mount-smd.ulp and customise it to look for that attribute and use that value instead if it exists.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[patrik.marcacci]

It's a good idea. I will try that!

Thanks