Hi HN,
When designing circuit boards, engineers waste days making digital models (like symbols & footprints) for each component in their circuit board designs.
Some components such as connectors, are particularly challenging to create models for due to their non-standard shapes, pitches, pads and cutouts. Just one of these components could take hours to create, and requires deciphering complex computer-aided design (CAD) drawings, which can be very tedious and error-prone.
Today we’re excited to announce that we are making over 25,000 new free electromechanical models available to electronics designers, including connectors, switches, relays, and sensors, through a collaboration with TE Connectivity.
They can be downloaded for nearly every PCB design format, including Eagle, KiCad, Altium, Cadence OrCAD & Allegro, Mentor PADS, DXDesigner, PCB123, and more.
Unlike other models you might find scattered across the web, or even within your PCB design tool, we do things a bit differently:
1. We show which standards the model was made with (IPC or datasheet recommendations)
2. We run each model through our automated verification technology to catch common manufacturing issues before they cause costly prototype iterations
3. We allow engineers to discuss potential issues on each part publicly for the entire community to see.
For any hardware designers out there, we’d love to know what formats, features, or part categories you'd like to see next!