Professional PCB design tool
comes for free
Colin Holland
7/4/2010 2:57 PM EDT
The first fully featured PCB design tool available free of charge to all without limitation is the claim made by RS Components for DesignSpark PCB. The first fully featured PCB design tool available free of charge to all without limitation is the claim made by RS Components for DesignSpark PCB.
The only limitation is that you have to join the company’s DesignSpark community to unlock the full functionality.
Developed in partnership with Number One Systems, specialists in the design of electronics CAD software, DesignSpark PCB is the first RS-created free design tool to be made available via its Spark Store.
Users will have access to a full suite of video tutorials, examples and a parts library. Engineers can create schematics that target any sized PCB with any number of layers, and import designs created in other PCB design software.
Fully (auto) routed and design-rule checked designs can then be exported in a number of file formats including IDF, DXF and standard Gerber/manufacturing format, enabling progression into mechanical design.
DesignSpark PCB also comes with a component library that can be extended and shared – through DesignSpark – with other engineers. Details of the components used from the library form the basis of the bill of materials generated by DesignSpark PCB, which can then be used to create an order or quotation request through the usual RS web portals.
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