Note
As WARG has shifted to A365 (in 2022) a lot of our practices have changed since this document was authored in 2021. As our WARG EE leads have gained more knowledge (and diffused it into our members) we have also refined many of our techniques. In the future we are hoping to have more formalized designed standards which should completely replace this document. This document will live on as at least a relic of an era for the time being.
Introduction
Component Sourcing and Library Management Guide for https://github.com/UWARG/hardware primarily intended for new members of the WARG Electrical subteam as it doesn’t dive into advanced topics.
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Additionally, checkout this guide https://resources.altium.com/p/guidelines-creating-useful-schematic-symbols.
When you create a symbol be sure to fill in the parameters. Order of parameters is irrelevant, but naming has to be exactly perfect for the BOM! For every component no matter what include “Manufacturer Part Number 1” and “Manufacturer 1” in addition to the supplier parameters which Altium fills in for you. For which other parameters to include check similar components.
Footprint Making
For the footprint of common components you can reuse the exact same footprint for multiple components. For things like headers it is easy to just add or subtract positions from other similar header footprints just be sure to check the datasheet to be sure the spacing is correct. If you are making your own footprint be sure to check the datasheet and use some basic geometry to determine the exact spacing. I would highly recommend using the footprint wizard as is outlined in the bootcamp for creating unique components as it makes it very easy to extract the values from the datasheet and drop them straight into Altium.
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