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best free PCB design software


buttersoft

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So i'm thinking of dipping my toe in the PCB design water, and looking for a free program. I want something that will let me build a schematic and then layout a PCB.

 

I was thinking of use Fritzing. It seems to be simpler than Kicad, and i don't think i'd need multi-layer capabilities to start, if ever.

 

Any opinions on the subject would be very welcome :)

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Two programs spring to mind.

 

FreePCB: It's what I use and always go back to. Very capable, a breeze to learn, has lots of features but does not have a schematic editor (though you can import schematics from external software). It's not actively developed however it doesn't need any further development, it's stable and mature as is.

 

PCB Elegance: Quite feature rich, steady learning curve, maintained by Tim Worthington, lots of features, overall very well presented with lots of useful tools.

 

Others to consider would be Design Spark, Eagle, KiCad, Pad2Pad.

 

My strong recommendation would be FreePCB, it's the easiest to get started in.

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Tried Eagle for a while, But wouldn't move back to that now.

 

Looked at quite a few alternatives, And wanted something that could do simple stuff but not restrict if I needed to do something out of the ordinary.

Most were nice starting price or free, But cost skyrocketed for selected features - Of which you might use once or just want to experiment.

 

I'd recommend KiCad, The learning curve really isn't that big and it is quite a flexible start to end PCB design suite.

You can pickup the basics from some quite entertaining (if not 100% correct) you tube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN_Y93RTdSo&list=PLy2022BX6Eso532xqrUxDT1u2p4VVsg-q

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Thank you to everyone who posted! I decided to jump in with EasyEDA because it was cloud-based. Has a somewhat limited library, but i knew i was going to need to create symbols and layouts from the word go no matter my choice of design suite. I've been working with/in AutoCAD and ACE for a few years, which i'm sure helped me get started, but EasyEDA is just what it says. The only sticking point i had was that the "Create solder mask" button for traces actually removes the solder mask, which is normally there by default, lol.

 

Having a blast, already ordered two revisions of my first board, will let everyone know how things turn out :)

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Thank you to everyone who posted! I decided to jump in with EasyEDA because it was cloud-based. Has a somewhat limited library, but i knew i was going to need to create symbols and layouts from the word go no matter my choice of design suite. I've been working with/in AutoCAD and ACE for a few years, which i'm sure helped me get started, but EasyEDA is just what it says. The only sticking point i had was that the "Create solder mask" button for traces actually removes the solder mask, which is normally there by default, lol.

 

Having a blast, already ordered two revisions of my first board, will let everyone know how things turn out :)

 

Forgot to mention, Also tried out Upverter (Web based EDA also) but never pushed a design to production with it (Moved to KiCad to do that).

 

One thing that is handy with PC based EDA is if there is ever a problem (eg Pin designations when copying the same design to a panel multiple times) you can inspect/correct your Gerber files before committing to a production run.

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Thank you to everyone who posted! I decided to jump in with EasyEDA because it was cloud-based. Has a somewhat limited library, but i knew i was going to need to create symbols and layouts from the word go no matter my choice of design suite. I've been working with/in AutoCAD and ACE for a few years, which i'm sure helped me get started, but EasyEDA is just what it says. The only sticking point i had was that the "Create solder mask" button for traces actually removes the solder mask, which is normally there by default, lol.

 

Having a blast, already ordered two revisions of my first board, will let everyone know how things turn out :)

 

There was one other thing that I found invaluable on PC based (KiCad) EDA that I forgot to mention when designing a project.

 

More for PCB layout but sometime schematic also.

 

Layout variants - It's much easier to have a folder of PCB snippets than try to do it online.

 

I'll explain a little more.

When creating your PCB, You build a layout of components to fit the position on the PCB.

The layout is usually divided into blocks like input lines to IC, Power or some sort of transistor output stage.

Often you will discard a nicely optimized block simply because position or orientation changes.

 

But you shouldn't actually discard that block because chances are you'll use it again before your PCB is complete.

 

That's where variant files come in. You just copy your PCB layout and label it appropriately (eg IC_xyz_Horizontal_V1 etc).

You can even make a scratchpad PCB to hold various layout blocks if you so wish.

 

The bigger the PCB the more useful this becomes.

You can still do this on Webbased EDA, But it's not as flexible as PC/Files.

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Yeah the online tools don't allow a great amount of detail. Some problems like device numbering are going to be universal, but EasyEDA doesn't have the best system for updating components via the schematic and intelligently transferring the small changes to the PCB. If you change anything, you basically have to start the PCB again unless you import things manually and rename your connection nets. Nor does it have the best save functions or ways of dividing projects into sections. I'm learning how best to work around that, because it's not impossible. You can save and create PCB versions within a project easily enough, but i's up to you to name/file them how you want. I believe my own library of custom symbols is saved though.
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@Frank_fjs I ordered the first batches and realised i actually wanted to use a different main IC and so needed to redesign everything :) I used OSH Park for what i did run up, and have no complaints about quality. I like the Easy-EDA software too, subject to the niggles noted above.

 

I won't actually pick up the hardware i'm planning to use the PCB with for a few more weeks, and after that i want to test the circuit. Following that i plan to release two revisions of the PCB to the public as gerbers, and probably a link on OSH Park.

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