ICs with Non Round Pads

wishlist
1

It would be great if IC pads were “non-round” pads ( not sure what they actually call them ) or there was an option to specify the type you want, much like the pads of a dip switch in Fritizng, non-round pads make it MUCH easier to route traces between IC pins when making homemade boards as there is more space between them which means you don’t have to go below 16 mil traces.

With round IC pads you have to go as low as 7 mil traces to be safe and not getting a warning from DRC.
using 8 mil doesnt go well and gives a warning.

7 mil traces is totally not something easy to work with when dealing with homemade PCBs.
Fritizng Fab Service specifies that as the minimum size .

Fzzzz.png1366×768 199 KB

2

But if you convert them to square they are still the same width for through hole.

If you make it narrow it will cut the pad into two parts, and that might be hard to solder.
Also there might not be enough pad to hold the part on the board if you accidentally bump it.

You could edit the part and change the pads to narrow long pads offset outward where you bend the leg onto it, but that;s advanced part making because you have to edit the svg file.

You could remove the part and put holes were the wire goes through the board and put pads next to them, as a sort of substitute.