Adom KiCad Library

Add this URL in KiCad

Tools -> Plugin and Content Manager -> Manage... -> +, and paste:

https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-kicad-library/pcm/repository.json

Then pick Adom KiCad Repository from the dropdown, open the Libraries tab, select Adom KiCad Library, click Install, then Apply Pending Changes. Step-by-step with every menu path is below.

KiCad footprints, schematic symbols, and 3D STEP models for Adom machine pins and machine contacts. Machine pins are the metal pins that let a workcell mechanically grab and place a molecule, and they double as electrical connections. Machine contacts are the female flexures on the other side of that connection. Both come in medium and large sizes.

Requires KiCad 8 or newer. Tested on KiCad 9 and 10.

Install into KiCad

Step 1: copy this URL

https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-kicad-library/pcm/repository.json

Step 2: add it as a repository

1. Open KiCad (the main project-manager window, not the schematic or PCB editor).
2. Go to Tools -> Plugin and Content Manager.
3. Click Manage... in the top-right corner.
4. In the "Manage Repositories" dialog, click the + button.
5. Paste the URL from Step 1 and click OK.
6. Click Save to close the dialog.

Step 3: install the library

1. Back in the Plugin and Content Manager, use the dropdown at the top-left to select Adom KiCad Repository.
2. Click the Libraries tab. You should see Adom KiCad Library listed.
3. Select it and click Install.
4. Click Apply Pending Changes at the bottom of the window.
5. Switch to the Installed tab to confirm it is there.

Step 4: use the parts

The library registers itself, so there is nothing to add by hand.

• Schematic editor: press A (Add Symbol) and search for MachinePin or MachineContact.
• PCB editor: press O (Add Footprint) and search the same terms, or assign footprints from the symbol fields.

Symbols live in adom-kicad-footprint-library. Footprints live in the adom-kicad-footprint-library footprint library. The 3D models are already attached to each footprint, so they appear in the 3D viewer (Alt+3) with no extra setup.

Updating

KiCad checks the repository on its own. When a new version is published, the Plugin and Content Manager shows an update for the library, and Update All takes it.

Adding the libraries by hand, without PCM

The Download button on this page gives you adom-kicad-library-<ver>.zip, which is the hand-install bundle. Its footprints reach their 3D models by relative path, so it works as long as the extracted folders stay together.

1. Download it and extract somewhere permanent, keeping the folder structure intact. Moving 3dmodels/ away from footprints/ breaks the 3D models.
2. Preferences -> Manage Footprint Libraries -> +, and point it at footprints/adom-kicad-footprint-library.pretty.
3. Preferences -> Manage Symbol Libraries -> +, and point it at symbols/adom-kicad-footprint-library.kicad_sym.

metadata.json in the zip is PCM bookkeeping. A hand-install ignores it.

The package PCM fetches is a different build of the same library, with model paths rewritten to ${KICAD8_3RD_PARTY}/3dmodels/<id>/... because PCM installs footprints and 3D models into sibling trees that a relative path cannot reach across. It is served from the feed rather than offered as a download, since it is only useful to KiCad itself.

What is in it

Short and Standard differ only in tail length. The pad geometry is identical, so they are interchangeable on the board and differ only in the 3D model.

Two schematic symbols cover all six: MachinePin and MachineContact.

Each footprint carries a silkscreen ring just outside the pad, a courtyard sized to the minimum pitch, and an F.Fab square marking the keep-clear envelope.

Fit

Medium pins use a 1.20 mm drill against a 1.2 mm pin shoulder, so the fit is nominally line-to-line and retention comes from the solder joint rather than interference. Large pins remain press-fit, with a 3.6 mm shoulder in a 3.45 mm hole for 0.15 mm of diametral interference.

Per-part detail, including 3D insertion views, lives on the component pages: machinepinmediumshort, machinepinmediumstandard, machinepinlargeshort, machinepinlargestandard, machinecontactmedium, machinecontactlarge.

If it does not work

"Unable to parse packages metadata" means KiCad rejected the feed's schema. Every field is validated, and one bad value fails the whole repository rather than a single package, so no libraries appear at all. This was fixed in v1.2.1. If you see it, you are on an older cached copy: remove the repository and re-add it.

Footprints place fine but the 3D viewer is empty. You are on 1.2.0 or 1.2.1, which shipped relative model paths in the PCM package. Update to 1.2.3 or newer. If you installed by hand, check you used the -manual.zip and that 3dmodels/ is still beside footprints/.

The library does not appear in the Libraries tab. Check the dropdown at the top-left is set to "Adom KiCad Repository" and not the default KiCad repository.

Nothing downloads. The feed and the zip are both served from wiki.adom.inc and need no login. If your network blocks it, use the install-from-file route above.

Where this comes from

Dimensions originate in the tscircuit source library adom-inc/adom-tsci-library (lib/src/globals.ts), published as @tsci/adom-inc.library. The KiCad source, release tooling, and history live in adom-inc/adom-kicad-library. Both repositories are private and need org access.

This page is the public distribution mirror. It carries the PCM feed (pcm/repository.json, pcm/packages.json) and the release zip, which is why installing works without a login.

The package identifier is com.github.adom-inc.adom-kicad-library. It matches the GitHub-hosted feed, so KiCad treats the two as the same package rather than as two parallel installs.

The same parts for Fusion 360 Electronics are at adom/adom-machine-pins-fusion-lbr.