Altium Designer: Footprints for SMT assembly?

[JohnG300c]

Do i need to think about anything related to assembly when i create my own SMT footprints in AD? I'm particulary interested in knowing how the pick and place machine will know how the components should be rotated (parts can be drawn vertically or horizontally in the footprint editor for example) and if i need to do anything special to tell the pick and place machine where the center of the components are.

 

[House_Cat]

IPC-7351 specifies the "zero orientation" for most standard components. A picture from that standard is attached. Your library parts should always be drawn in the zero position. You can then rotate them as needed when placed on the PCB.

You don't need to do anything special for pick-and-place. The output pick-and-place file provides the coordinates and rotation for the part. The assembler can work from that, or from the Gerber files.

 

[JohnG300c]

Thanks House Cat. It seems the pick and place file is not rocket science compared to the PCB complexity. I generated a text file and it seems simple enough. I'll ask the assembly house for more detail.