SMPL KiCAD Library

We love the SMPL (Simple Modular Physical Link) system and know you do too! This library exists to help you design your next SMPL based system in the free KiCAD tool. Export a bill of materials to help make sure you get everything you need in one order, list out what cables you use, and more. We use this library in our own consulting work when we design systems using the SMPL boards and it saves hours of headache and makes documenting that thin you'll remember later (but don't) easy.

The library is not meant to represent every electrical connection (i.e. the 4 wires from a load cell), but more the system design. We recommend using wires to represent SMPL cables instead of individual electrical connections. We have also included components that represent our pre-cut and assembled SMPL cables that you can place on the schematic alongside the wire they represent to make sure you know what length you used and to create a bill of materials (BOM) that you can place an order from.

Installation

Installing the library is easy and takes less than 2 minutes!

1. Download a copy of this git repository. You can download a zip by clinking the green "code" button at the upper right hand of the file list. If you're familiar with git we recommend cloning the repository so that as we continue to add products to the library you can update with a simple git pull command. If you're not familiar with git, no sweat, you'll just download and replace the library folder periodically when you want to update.

2. Put the folder (unzipped if you downloaded a zip file) somewhere you want to keep it "forever". We like having a folder called git_repos in our home directory, but you can use documents or wherever else you prefer.

3. Open KiCAD and go to the schematic editor.

4. Click Preferences -> Manage Symbol Libraries

5. At the top of the dialog box select "Global Libraries" if you want to add the SMPL library for all projects (recommended) or select "Project Specific Libraries" if you just want to add it to the project that is currently open.

6. Click the add (+) button and nickname the library "SMPL Symbols".

7. In the Library Path column click the folder icon and browse to where you have put the folder and select the SMPL.kicad_sym file.

8. Click OK - you're done! Now go design something cool.

Problems

See a problem? Feel free to open an issue, create a pull request, or contact our support team!