measure the distance between existing connectors

Question

Hi, I'm now designing an adapter board for my system. There are two 2x20 female headers on the board, so I need two 2x20 male headers on my adapter board. For the final layout it's important to measure the distance of these connectors precisely. But is there a precise way to measure the distance of these two headers? Has anyone any experience for such measurement?

genebren · Accepted Answer

For a precise way to measure the distance between the two female headers, you should be using a precise measurement tool. For this I would recommend calipers. I would the measure the distance, using the outside (large) jaws of the outer most edges of the two female headers. I would the measure the width of one of the female headers and subtract that from the first measurement. The resulting value is the distance between the centerlines of the two headers. This measurement could be off a bit if the two headers are tilted or soldered in crooked, but it should be very close.

Good luck,

Gene

jw0752 · Answer

Hi Bin, If I was making these measurements I would use a caliper to make the measurements on the existing board and I would use a drawing program like Corel to draw the second board. These drawing programs allow very precise placement of points. Another thing that might be of use is knowing that most boards are drawn on a fixed grid. The grid that is common here is the US is 1/10th of an inch. This can help to measure the distance between things as you can count on the distances being multiples of 1/10th of an inch apart. John PS Take your measurements off the back of the board so you don't have to deal with the height of the components in your way.

mcb1 · Answer

Good suggestions. If you want to measure the centre to centre distance of a hole, pins, etc, then measure the distance between the closest side of the closest hole/pin/etc to the closest side of the furtherest hole/pin/etc. This eliminates the error when dealing with holes/pins/etc, but does require the pin/hole/etc to be the same size. Strangely all the google results do the hole/pin diameter subtraction thing. Mark

measure the distance between existing connectors

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