Kicad_FPC_board_ends

Common board end footprints for FPC connectors and a python script for generating custom versions:

Footprints include an outline for the stiffener on layer User.1 and board edge cuts up to the end of the stiffener

Common footprints

If you just want to use some common footprints you can download the fpc_board_ends.pretty folder and import it into kicad as normal

These footprints have been generated for:

• 0.5mm pitch, 0.35mm pad width, 2.5mm exposed copper and 3.5mm stiffener, with a 0.2mm radius at the corners
• 1mm pitch, 0.6mm pad width, 2.5mm exposed copper and 3.5mm stiffener, with a 0.2mm radius at the corners

If ordering from jlcpcb the User.1 layer with the stiffener on should be renamed to: B.Stiffener_{material}b_{thickness}

for example: B.Stiffener_pib_0.2 Would indicate a polyimide stiffener 0.2mm thick on the back side of the board

Generating your own footprints

This python package can be installed by pip:

pip install git+https://github.com/mikeWShef/Kicad_FPC_board_ends

And run from the command line eg:

fpc_footprint_generator [positions] [pitch] -r [corner radius]

Will generate a 4 position 0.5mm pitch board end with a corner radius of 0.2mm

The full arguments are:

fpc_footprint_generator -h:

positional arguments:

• positions The number of positions on the board edge
• pitch The pitch of the connector

optional arguments:

• --pad_width, -w The width of the pads in mm, defaults to pitch/0.5*0.35
• --pad_length, -l The length of the pads in mm, defaults to 2.5
• --stiffener_length, -s The length of the stiffener in mm, in layer User.1, defaults to 3.5
• --radius, -r The radius of the fillet/chamfer at the corners in mm
• --chamfer, -c If set the corners will be chanfered with a distance set by the radius argument
• --filename , -f The filename of the output file, if not supplied the default name 'FPC-{positions}P-{pitch}mm' will be used