I've circled around back to where I started, needing a small signal diode. However in the intervening months I've learned a bit about both Fritzing and part creation. To that end I'd like to start a discussion about improving the diode core part. There is interest from other folks as well as me for a small signal diode such as the 1n4148 / 1n4448 etc with an associated footprint with a smaller hole than that for the 1n4001 diode (which being a 1 A diode has a larger lead wire). That same post in here (apparently a hold over from the wish list in the old forum) asked about different foot print sizes (.2, .3 .4 and .5 were suggested) to allow using the diode as a jumper as well as the diode. In some variants of the diode there is a stand up foot print (although it is currently very wide) where the diode is vertical to the board rather than horizontal. Breadboard view of the variant doesn't match the PCB view which should be fixed, but I think it is desirable to have that option for all the diode variations (as well as resistors, but thats a later discussion 
). There is also the recent thread in parts help where someone was looking for a surface mount 1n4001 part (I can't easily find any 1n4001 in SM packages at either Digikey or Mouser which I find very suprising, but there obviously is one somewhere) that wanted a 1n4001 in an 804 SMD package. That (at least to me) indicates we should be adding some common (assuming there are common, of course) smd footprints to the diode part. There are some for the 10A diode but they are larger than what the poster wanted. Finally I think we need to make a change to the diode part as it stands in the bin. At present it presents its self as a "rectifier diode" which isn't quite accurate as it is really all the various diode types (rectifier, zener, schottky and when it gets added, small signal).
It isn't til you drag it in to the sketch that you can select which of those you want. I think we would be best to change the description to something like "Generic diodes: (rectifier, zener, schottky and small signal, through hole and SMD packages). Drag in to your sketch to select the type and package with Inspector" because as a new user I wouldn't (and didn't) know that I could or should do that. To that end (and to discover how the diode part is actually making all the variants it has) I grepped through the core fpz files looking for diode which turns up all of these in family "diode"
(so far ):
diode_1N4001_300mil.fzp
diode_schottky_1N5817_300mil.fzp
diode_zener_0_5w_3_6v_300mil.fzp
Rectifier Diode 10A_standup_on_PCB.fzp
SMD_Diode_REC_DO.fzp
SMD_Diode_REC_DOAA.fzp
SMD_Diode_STK_DO.fzp
SMD_Diode_ZEN_3-6.fzp
This looks to be the 4 main diode types and their SMD equivalents. The properties associated with each fzp appear to create the following selectors in Inspector: In all cases the top name is the name of a property:
variant:
PCB Laydown (standard through hole parallel to the board with a large diode body .3 wide)
PCB Standup (Vertical .5 spacingshould be .1 or .2 probably to be useful)
variant 12 (?) which is the standard body size (about .1 wide)
Type
rectifier 1n4001
rectifier P1000K (apparantly the fat (8mm diameter) 10 amp version)
Schottky 1n5817 (no varients here, they should be added!)
Zener 1n4732A (no varients here, they should be added!
breakdown voltage is setable on this one via inspector)
package
300 mil (THT)
Melf Do-213 AB [SMD]
Melf Do-213 AA [SMD]
It seems to me it would be wise to rename variant 12 to something better descriptive
such as PCB Laydown .1 wide .3 spacing and the current PCB Laydown changed to
PCB Laydown .3 wide .4 spacing
Add more SMD footprints. preferably with better descriptions to help pick the one you want. The part that I'm not sure of is if we would have to generate new parts for each variation or if Fritzing can somehow substitute the PCB foot print from one of the other parts (I think that is what is happening because an error message often flashes by on the bottom of the sketch screen something to the effect of "exact match not found substituting closest match" when placing the diodes in the sketch). The other thing that would be desirable is input from the developers as to whether they like and would accept this idea if we were to implement it. Comments? Further suggestions? This won't work because of ...?
Back to creating a small signal diode and seeing if it will join the family (which may answer some of those questions for me ).
Peter Van Epp