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DESIGNSPARK
DesignSpark PCB v5 Professional electronics design software
www.designspark.com/pcb
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DesignSpark PCB is an award-winning professional software package for schematic capture and PCB layout, available for FREE. Version 5 gives you the added benefits of: – Real-time Design Rule checking (Online DRC) for on-the-go design errors verification and correction – Schematic Buses for simplified representation of multiple signals
Revolution on the PCB tools market At RS Components we believe in helping our customers innovate. We have set a goal to remove barriers to innovation to electronics design and thus DesignSpark PCB is born. Launched July 2010 it set a new standard for PCB design tools. For the first time in history engineers worldwide gained access to fully featured, free software with no intentional restrictions or limitations. This made the tool ideally suited for commercial as well as hobbyist use. The idea of a free professional PCB package was quickly picked up by the industry and enthusiasts leading to nearly 60,000 activations in the first 12 months of release. The user community boomed, making designSpark.com a popular engineering discussion forum.
www.designspark.com/pcb
Commitment to continuous development The unparalleled success of DesignSpark PCB has led to subsequent releases. The DesignSpark Team have established close relationships with a number of users who are now helping us set the direction in which the tool evolves. We are listening to community feedback, actively engaging in conversations on-line and face-to-face during various trade shows, exhibitions and engineering events. To preserve this unique relationship with customers, RS Components have committed to continuously invest in further enhancements. For full version change history check the Change Log on DesignSpark.com
Award-winning PCB tool We are proud winners of the following awards: “New Product of the Year” - PCB Design and Fab Magazine, “Most Popular Software Platform/Development Tool” - EEPW China, “IP/EDA Most Popular Product of the Year” - EETimes ACE Awards
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Extensive PCB libraries integrated with RS product offer Focus on innovation, research and development rather than spending time on creating basic building blocks of your design. This feature is perhaps the most awaited by the community since the tool launch in 2010. Guided by the voice of the users, we decided to complement the existing set of components as known from Version 3 (30,000 parts) with brand new libraries created by 3rd party industry experts in compliance with the
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IPC-7351 standard. To deliver the new libraries we built in a dedicated interface to ModelSource, our online engineering models database. The new libraries are aligned with the RS product offer and launched with over 80,000 components.
80,000 Schematic & PCB components in 20 formats including PADS, OrCAD, Altium, CADSTAR & more... Powered by ModelSource
modelsource.designspark.com/pcb
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One-click integration with the RS-online catalogue We appreciate how much valuable engineering time is spent completing Bills of Materials (BOMs) and placing orders. We believe your time is better utilised on differentiating your product to stay ahead of competition. BOM Quote is designed to significantly speed up the BOM creation and component purchase. It complements the ModelSource libraries and offers
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a link to our world class ecommerce website. Now you can order all components used in your design quickly, directly from DesignSpark.
RS BOM user report Built-in CSV format Bill Of Materials user generation. This report lists the RS Part Numbers from ModelSource library components. Now you can create a full Parts List with just a click away. Another time saver!
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Get your prototype boards manufactured directly from DesignSpark PCB With this simplified process you can get budgetary quotes at any time of the design - enhancing your control over prototyping cost and timing. Quoting for PCBs, especially when dealing with prototype quantities, can be a time consuming process. In partnership with leading PCB manufacturers, we are pleased to introduce the new PCB Quote service which is aimed to speed up quoting for PCB fabrication. A single
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click on the PCB Quote button, enables you to view quotes adjusted to your geographical location. You can browse manufacturers’ profiles to learn about services they offer to ensure you choose the best manufacturer for your requirements.
Hardware design has never been so easy! We have removed the undesirable and time consuming factors of the PCB design process, to enable you to invest your time in what you are best at, innovating. The traditional simplicity of the DesignSpark PCB user interface with its powerful built-in wizards is further enhanced with the substantial time saving benefits of the ModelSource Interface, BOM Quote and PCB
Quote services. Behind those features sits a very powerful and intuitive PCB design engine allowing you to get creative without constraints.
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All great features from the previous versions are still here! • •
Schematics entry and PCB Layout Full link between schematics and PCB
Key features: • • • • • • • •
Auto placement & Auto router Interface to simulation tools (LTSpice, Tina, etc.) Built-in design calculators (track/via resistance, power dissipation, etc.) Comprehensive Design Rule Check Output files: Gerber, Excellon, DXF, IDF, component positions for automated assembly (csv, txt) Full import from Cadsoft Eagle (PCB, schematics, libraries) Component and circuit element grouping Many more…
www.designspark.com/pcb
Built-in component creation wizards: create new components in minutes!
3D view: see the progress of your design in real time, visually verify your work capture a screenshot for project documentation
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All great features from the previous versions are still here!
Set of built-in design calculators ensure consistency and a single point of reference for your documentation
Configurable Auto-placement and Auto-router available to help speeding up your layout
www.designspark.com/pcb
Standard Gerber files output with full configuration allows easy manufacturing of DesignSpark PCB projects
Searchable Help Contents provide detailed instructions and a set of on-line Design Tutorials will help you getting started!
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Our promise Promise from RS: DesignSpark PCB with all its features is and always will be free for commercial and non-commercial use and remain unlimited on: • • • • •
PCB area (up to 1m² board size) PCB layers Number of schematic sheets Number of components/pins Tool use (no licenses, paid-for upgrades/features, etc.)
Community based support There is plenty of materials available on our home page DesignSpark.com/pcb including Tutorials, FAQs and Knowledge items. We encourage the community to discuss this content and actively develop it. These resources are supported by Forums with rich history of user discussions and guidance. Visit DesignSpark.com/discuss
www.designspark.com/pcb
Who are DesignSpark PCB users and what they think about the software
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I have used previous versions and found it very good. Before that I had to send my PCB designs out to a firm using PADS2000 which was too expensive to own. Using DSPCB I can now do them myself and check them immediately rather than sending back for corrections. In fact I am ordering the PCB right now from a PCB manufacturer who has made them before and has had no trouble using the Gerber output. Keep up the good work. I did try using the Eagle PCB program but you couldn’t use it for commercial work without buying a licence so haven’t used it since.
DesignSpark PCB Users
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Design Engineer Student Hobbyist Management Consultant CEO/CFO Educator Retired Sales & Marketing Purchasing
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Great product with DesignSpark - it is pretty impressive! I wouldn’t mind paying for it if we had to!
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Staff in our electronics courses are interested in using DesignSpark as it links with the RS catalogue (from which we order our components) and students can install on their home computers. We’re really pleased there’s a version aimed at educational institutions.
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Download your FREE DesignSpark PCB Version 5 www.designspark.com/pcb
