Rotary micro switch

[lasaintlouis]

Hi, have an 8 pin 4 position rotary micro switch from Digikey, part: CKN10699-ND only switch in parts bin I could find is a 12 pin rotary. In parts editor I 1) cant figure out how to reduce it to 8 pins, 2) how to make it smaller, IT’S HUGE! Would really like to incorporate this switch in the PCB to make a timer for my grandkids. Is it possible?

Appreciate any help, thanks,

lasl

[vanepp]

Its possible, just not necessarily easy. You would need to make a custom part for the switch by editing the svg files for the 12 position switch and make it smaller (at least in pcb). Pointers to a couple of tutorials on parts making:

A new part creation HowTo (long! So long it is in 2 posts)

(Edit: November 2016: This is an updated (and corrected) version of the original parts creation howto. This version corrects some suggestions (mostly saving Inkscape files as optimized svg which turns out to cause other problems) with the first version and expands the section on parts testing. While there doesn’t appear to be a lot of interest in this subject I’ll make at least this update so the information is as correct as I can get it.) This is a description of how I made the Valor PM6078-00…

Fritzing PART CREATION Video Tutorial Series

Fritzing Part Creation - Chapter3 - Inkscape Advanced Essentials Learning how to draw in Inkscape - more features. 0:00 Overview 0:16 Select object with cursor and XML Editor 3:34 Manipulate special PDF’s in Inkscape 4:33 XML Editor - Direct drawing manipulation 6:05 XML Editor - Making group, moving object, changing layer height 7:27 Cursor - Changing layer height 8:21 Ruler 9:07 Grids 9:28 Snap selection 10:16 Drawing origin

Peter

[lasaintlouis]

Thank you for the reply. Watched all the videos and realized it is too involved and difficult for me. Will try to figure out something else.
appreciate your help,

lasl

[vanepp]

Yes if you aren’t already familiar with an svg editor it is a fair learning curve. However once you are familiar it gets easier, so try this part and see if it does what you need. I did the pcb section of this from the data sheet and without a part on hand so before committing to a board I’d advise printing a copy of the pcb at 1:1 and checking the layout against a real part to see that it is correct. The pads thickness is a little less than usual because the normal 20 thou pads don’t have enough clearance. As a result I suspect you may need a fab house to cut the boards doing your own may not work as the switch pads are around a 10 thou clearance. The pad with the square is pin 0 (the common pin) and the one to its right is pin 1. The switch may be the other way as the data sheet doesn’t say if the pcb layout is component side (as I assumed) or solder side, so that is also something to check (it is easy for me to flip the pads if it is wrong). Breadboard view is reduced to about twice the size of the real part.

Rotary_Switch_4x1.fzpz (6.7 KB)

Peter

[lasaintlouis]

WOW, you are amazing! it brought a hugh smile to my face when I saw them smiling!

thank you so much Peter,

lasl

[lasaintlouis]

Thanks very much again, already sent for production. part size is perfect, pin size is same as LED pin. The connection hole in your part seems to be larger than the LED hole size so it should fit. The layout is correct, pin#1 is at 1 o’clock on the PCB!. Curious though, had seen all the videos by Old Grey on parts creation and just reread fritzig help on new parts editor, to gain some insight on this, went to “edit (your) part”-“connections” added a pin 5 then “PCB”-clicked #5 - “select graphic” all I get are long crosshairs! It doesn’t choose the pin as a connection. There is a tiny white dot in the center of the connection and when I now click pin #5 again a small black circle surrounds it. Do I have to go into Inkscape to do it? One would think if “edit-parts” allows you to get crosshairs and position it over the connector it would also allow you to choose it and make it active.

thanks again can’t wait for the board to come, couldn’t have done it without you!

Les

[vanepp]

You are most welcome, for me it was about a 1/2 hour task but that is after months and months of learning about parts creation. Many times it is easier to make a part for someone than try and explain how to do it (although we do try and encourage people to make more parts).

@lasaintlouis

creation and just reread fritzig help on new parts editor, to gain some insight on this, went to “edit (your) part”-“connections” added a pin 5 then “PCB”-clicked #5 - “select graphic” all I get are long crosshairs! It doesn’t choose the pin as a connection. There is a tiny white dot in the center of the connection and when I now click pin #5 again a small black circle surrounds it. Do I have to go into Inkscape to do it? One would think if “edit-parts” allows you to get crosshairs and position it over the connector it would also allow you to choose it and make it active.

This is probably because I set the 3 unused pads to noconn in the svgs, so yes you (or I if you need it for something) would need to modify the svg to make the unused pins in to real connectors again. Generally if you want to use parts editor you have to start with a part that has enough (or even more) connections than you need. I think it may be able to delete connections but I don’t think it can add them or you may need to have the exact number of connections you need. I have never been able to make the connection selector in parts editor to work for me, so I tend to operate on the underlying files and svgs only using parts manager to properly register the created part with the Frtizing parts database and sometimes to do the metadata as I’m also lousy at html . The new parts editor isn’t complete yet (and development is slow) so sometimes you have to access the underlying files to do things, and after a while I found it easier to do it all (or at least most of it) from there.

Peter

[lasaintlouis]

No problem, thanks very much again and for your time.

Les

[lasaintlouis]

Hi Peter, waiting for boards with rotary SW from F. Will send you a pic of the fruits of your labor, cant wait!

thank you again so much,

les

[lasaintlouis]

Hi Peter, fits like a glove!!!

thank you so much again

Les

[vanepp]

Good to see! You are most welcome, if you are familiar with parts creation that isn’t a big job, but becoming sufficiently familiar with parts creation is a big job .

Peter