Cloud-based symbol/footprint library speeds PCB design

Designers can now search and download free, cloud-based symbols and footprints directly during PCB design capture and layout, significantly boosting design productivity.

“For forty years, PCB designers have frittered away countless hours defining parts because there simply wasn’t a workable, affordable source for accurate, ready-made parts. In fact, surveys show that most professional designers spend an average of 30-35% of their design time just making new parts definitions before they can even get started,” said Nolan Johnson, CAD & EDA Product Marketing Manager at Sunstone Circuits.

“SnapEDA has disrupted that dynamic in an easy-to-use, no-cost utility, and PCB123 is proud to be bringing true in-tool integration of SnapEDA’s parts search functions to our loyal users – in a free PCB CAD tool, no less,” Johnson added.

PCB123 is a free, full-function PCB CAD tool, comprised of a schematic editor, physical layout editor, 3-dimensional mechanical previews, and BOM editor. By augmenting the tool with cloud-based libraries, designers will get real-time access to new symbols & footprints added to SnapEDA’s catalog, as well the ability to request parts they need for their designs with InstaPart, the company’s popular 24 hour parts request service.

“PCB123 has just released the industry’s first pre-installed integration of a cloud-based parts library. Their impressive solution will benefit PCB designers with access to vetted parts models that will shave days off design time, and benefit the world through faster innovation,” said Natasha Baker, Founder & CEO of SnapEDA.

All new models created by SnapEDA conform to the latest IPC standards (IPC-7351B) and are vetted with its patent-pending verification technology. Design content is available for millions of electronic components, enabled by SnapEDA’s proprietary, automated library creation, translation, and verification technology.