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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

www.designspark.com/pcb

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

www.designspark.com/pcb

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

www.designspark.com/pcb

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 1m 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

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 couldnt use it for commercial work
without buying a licence so havent used it since.

DesignSpark PCB Users

Design Engineer
Student
Hobbyist
Management
Consultant
CEO/CFO
Educator
Retired
Sales & Marketing
Purchasing

Great product with DesignSpark

- it is pretty impressive! I wouldnt
mind paying for it if we had to!

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. Were really pleased theres
a version aimed at educational institutions.

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Download your FREE

DesignSpark PCB Version 5
www.designspark.com/pcb