I am often asked how SnapEDA vets the quality of the CAD files it provides. Since launching, we’ve had a rating & commenting system to provide a feedback loop for engineers to report inaccuracies with CAD files, or to vouch for their quality. Although this system is leaps and bounds better than any other alternative means of sourcing CAD files, we’ve long wanted to…

If you’d like to provide feedback on a part you download from SnapEDA, you can easily rate it on each part page as shown below. But if you download many parts, it could be time-consuming to visit each page to rate it after downloading. We’ve now made it much easier to provide your feedback on the…

One of the most common questions designers have while creating printed circuit board (PCB) footprints is: what are the correct dimensions for the pads? Increasingly, designers are adopting the IPC-7351 standard, which provides guidelines for calculating pad dimensions. In general, following standards is a good idea since it helps maintain consistency, accuracy, and reliability — all…

Today, we’re pleased to announce that one of SnapEDA’s most requested export formats is finally live. We have released support for Cadence Allegro and OrCAD on SnapEDA! SnapEDA is an ecosystem for PCB design, providing CAD data — such as PCB footprints and schematic symbols– for millions of electronics components. This allows engineers to get…

We’ve all heard the stats that the percentage of women that go into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields could be better. Luckily a new class of toys are aiming to bridge the gap by introducing more girls to programming and technology at a young age. Linkitz, a Toronto-based startup, makes code-able friendship bracelets as a way to teach…

One cool feature on SnapEDA is the ability to ask a question about a specific electronic component. This is a powerful feature because it allows you to tag your question to a particular electronic component so that other engineers helping you can quickly refer to the attached datasheet, specs, symbol/footprint, and other details needed to pinpoint the issue quickly.…

For those involved in the day-to-day process of designing electronics, the pain SnapEDA is solving is clear: engineers are frustrated spending hours creating the basic building blocks needed to innovate new products. As a result, they’re turning to SnapEDA to download these building blocks (such as CAD symbols and footprints) instantly. This allows them to focus on…

A few months ago, Octopart introduced the Common Parts Library, a major step forward for makers. The CPL curates a collection of commonly used electronic components for Internet of Things devices. The motivation for the project was to reduce the bottlenecks involved in component selection. With millions of parts available in production, honing down the…

Earlier this month, we escaped Toronto’s winter chill and headed to Las Vegas to exhibit at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show. You’re probably wondering how this little startup made its way to the world’s biggest technology conference — one that attracts over 170,000 attendees from around the world. Here’s how… The Consumer Electronics Show runs an innovation marketplace called Eureka…