DesignSpark PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is a design tool based on a CAD system; its standalone interface means that the user doesn’t need to install it as an add-in for any other software. It is powerful and simple to use, free to use and loaded with the most complete parts libraries available.
Developing a PCB is easy. This software provides exactly the tools the designer needs for shaping the board, put the connection pads, the routes for the nets, add the copper shapes, and the copper-pour-areas, working in a schematic view to design the net, or in a PCB view to visualize the nets interaction, highlighting a specific net, viewing the components installed on each one displaying them with different colors.
As any other CAD system, this program also lets the user work in layers, assigning them different colors and properties. First, the software opens a PCB file by default with a board and its components. The user can close it and start from scratch, defining a folder and a path to store the new project, which is a good idea to keep all the documentation of each project ordered and easy to find later.
The user draws the board shape with the shape tool, drawing free hand or orthogonally (constrained to vertical or horizontal lines only), being able to type the exact coordinates for each new point, then the designer places the drag-and-drop components available in the library, making the connections, drawing the net and assigning the power connections.
Then the software enables the user to check error by using many different tools like a ruler to measure the board, a Design Rule Check tool that checks many features like the spacing for the tracks, pads, shapes, texts, drills and components, checking the manufacturing features like the minimum paste size or the Drill Breakouts, among others. The designer selects all the options to analyze and runs the analysis. Other tools are available to help the designer in the process. For instance, the Auto-place Components tool, which calculates the better position for each component according to where it was placed, the Auto- Route Nets tool, which checks all the nets for errors by feeding the maximum effort value, the number of passes the program should do and adding Vias, Side Pad exits as needed or restricting these values. The Auto- Rename components tool helps avoiding errors by assigning each component a different name.
Once the design is completed, the designer can plot it into a PDF file or send it to a Gerber CNC router, a drilling base or other devices generating all the documentation needed for each department or person involved in the manufacturing process.
Another great feature is the ability to produce a 3D digital representation of the new design providing a better understanding of the designer’s intentions for other people.
Then the user can export the new design to an DXF, LPKF, or IDF document to share the project with other users that may not have this software or for the integration with the design of the casing in other programs with CAD capabilities.
v9.0 [Dec 11, 2019]
DesignSpark PCB V9.0
New Features:
- Refresh Symbol in Component Editor. Now the application is aware if a symbol has been changed and saved and updates the symbol that is currently displayed in the previews windows.
- Resizable dialogs (Library Manager & Add Component) allow the left and right margins to be dragged to allow the full length of component names to be visible.
- Add Text – Now allows you to choose text style.
- Add Text – The text alignment allows the selection of Left, centred or right alignment
- Cross Probe single shot mode. Now you can escape from Cross Probe mode as soon as you select something, rather than staying in the mode where subsequent clicks would attempt to probe again.
- Dangling Connections Report in the Schematic design. Now you can easier discover in report places where you start a net from component pin and forget to finish or to assign to a net.
- Plotting dialog - buttons for Select/Deselect all layers. Additional buttons for easier and faster PCB layers display control.
- Library Wizards - Option for creating a “New Library” when saving a new library item hence a more convenient process.
- Goto bar – New box where you can type item name for faster navigating. Component list scrolls to the entered text and highlights the component once identified.
- Add to Net on Pour Area. Now have the choice to select nets that exist within the selected pour area, previously could only select from all nets in the design.
Fixes:
BOM Composer:
- The sort order in the CSV file generated by BOM Composer was not the same as that shown in the on-screen display or the generated HTML/text report.
- Some standard reports in BOM Composer did not attempt to populate the Part Number column from all possible component Values in the design.
Design Tool Tips"
- Depending on the Zoom level, the on-screen design tool tip could show information for the wrong item.
Display"
- In several places in the application the display of user interface elements (including some dialogs, and list boxes containing check boxes and/or icons) was incorrect or unreadable on high-resolution displays.
Drawing"
- At some zoom levels and grid steps, drawing of screen grid dots could be very slow causing application to become unresponsive.
Gerber Output"
- When generating Gerber data using the “X2” format, the aperture function ‘SMDPad’ in the file header was missing a mandatory second field (‘CuDef’ or ‘SMDef’).
Project Files"
- When saving a copy of a Project, an error message was being displayed that incorrectly indicated that the copied Project would not work properly.
Rename Component"
- Renaming selected components in a PCB design could result in some of those components being given names that already exist on non-selected components.
- In some situations, components on some Schematic sheets in a Project were being overlooked.
- The setting of the ‘By Stem’ checkbox when using Auto Rename Components in a Schematic was not being remembered for next time the dialog was used.
Reports"
- The supplied ‘RSBOM’ report did not attempt to populate some columns (including manufacturer and manufacturer part number) from all possible component Values in the design.
Setup"
- The installer was not applying the correct application icon to be displayed in the Windows ‘Apps and Features’ control panel.
File selection"
- Improvements have been made to remove occurrence of the widow becoming inactive.
Problem Fixes in Version 9.0.2:
- Windows OLE registration issue fixed to allow DSPCB to correctly interface with Library Loader.
- Technology path not set to correct path on installation or retaining path when corrected.
Problem Fixes in Version 9.0.3 :
Add Component:
- Stretching the Add Component dialog was not increasing the amount of space for the list of component Values.
Add Track:
- The default action when clicking to insert a corner over an existing track segment on another layer was to ask to insert a via and join to that track, instead of offering this as the default only if both tracks were on the same net.
Colours:
- Poured Copper was being drawn using a colour that was not available to be changed on the Colours dialog.
Component Edit:
- After saving edits on a symbol whilst having a component open for edit, sometimes the symbol preview would not update to show the newly-saved symbol until you closed and re-opened the component.
Component Values:
- It was not possible to Import a CSV file that had just been Exported from the Components page of the Libraries dialog.
Delete:
- When deleting a Pour area, the choices offered on the popup question about removing the associated copper did not match the actions that the application then took in response to your choice.
Design Technology:
- Grids were not visible on Design Technology and various other dialogs on some high-resolution displays.
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