you should producthunt this!
Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
41–50 of 110 posts
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#42Why? Making schematic symbols and PCB footprints is not time consuming, and at least you'll have the proper paste mask. Altium has an IPC footprint generator wizard, and 3Dcontentcentral has lots of user contributed parts in STEP format.
> Why? Making schematic symbols and PCB footprints is not time consuming
Whaaaaaat? o_O
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#43Bookmarked this site. The database seems super useful.
I have mixed feelings about the custom footprint service -- I've worked with ~900-pin BGA SoC-type parts, and paying $30 to do that would be a no brainer, but paying the same for a 8-pin LDO would be a tougher sell -- maybe scale prices with part complexity?
The tougher sell to me is trust / verification of the InstaPart models before the community can vote them up or down. For most teams that I've been on, the most time-consuming part isn't really the pinout generation, but rather the checking of large parts (often 2 engineers checking pin-by-pin to ensure that footprint matches data sheet). I'd be much more comfortable using it if you outlined how pinouts are verified before sending them out to the customers.
I hope this works out! Making footprints is a huge PITA, and I'd love to be rid of it.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had to use a few parts that claimed to follow a standard footprint, but where subtly off. Another part I've used if you read the datasheet carefully you ended up with a completely different footprint than what first glance would suggest which is my biggest problem with upverters part concierge as they helpfully "fix" my footprint to the incorrect one. Will we be able to comment on the footprints or leave reviews…
Yes. Here's an example of a part page: https://snapeda.com/parts/LTC6995HS6-1%23TRMPBF/Linear%20Tec... On this page, you'll notice the following: 1. You can upvote or downvote the part 2. You can leave a comment on the part 3. We have automated algorithms that uncover common defects in parts on the Validations tab. This is a patent-pending technology we developed that we plan to expand further to include more checks.
Shiiiiiiiiiiit, this is awesome. I spend quite a bit of time trying to find components, and you never know whether the footprint is correct or whether you're in for an unpleasant surprise.
Thanks for this! I'm especially loving the fact that you do KiCAD exports.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#45Not an EE Am I correct that you replace this lengthy process? https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/designing-pcbs-smd-foot...
That is the process, yes, but it's not really that lengthy. You can usually just add the first pin and then copy/paste the rest in the row really quickly.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#46I think your footprints should be shown with dimensions, because before I drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on a run of PCBs, I'm going to have to check your footprints to make sure they are correct, and that could actually take me longer than drawing them from scratch.
That's a great idea. Will add the ability to toggle to see dimensions as a feature in our roadmap.
Yes, a ruler on the footprint page would be great.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is something that should exist, and I hope you can find ways to finance it sustainably. What are your plans?
We plan to work with component manufacturers to make sure their parts are well-represented on SnapEDA. We also have Premium versions for users who need more functionality. You can learn more at https://www.snapeda.com/pricing .
"You can sign up for a 10-day free trial of SnapEDA premium. During the trial period, you can cancel any time in your Account Settings. After the trial ends, you will be charged $297 ($99/month, billed quarterly)."
This stinks of dark patterns and maximizing the amount you can hit people who forget to cancel for before they notice. It's rather unlikely that someone would actually want to pay quarterly at the higher monthly rate.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#48I'm a professional hardware engineer, and doing this kind of work is something I do frequently and begrudgingly. Having this kind of service available will be a huge help. Some thoughts:
- Who writes the style guide? How do you make aesthetic decisions?
- Will you support multiple symbol styles? Would it be possible to upload stylesheets or specially annotated schematics and then regenerate already-extant parts in that style?
- Is there any intention of making the file writers open-source? Altium, in particular, has a stupid and annoying file format and it would be a gift to the community to be able to write good PcbLib and SchLib files. It would make it easy for me to write a linting and style-casting tool.
- Is there any chance of bringing down the latency, possibly with the application of more money? My rule of thumb is that it's worth spending about a hundred dollars to save myself an hour. A typical smallish library part takes me about five or ten minutes if I have to do both schematic and footprint, so waiting a day isn't really attractive at any price. But if I could throw money at you to get a result turbospeed, that'd be worthwhile.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#49Shocking that it's 2016 and the component manufacturers aren't providing this data free and online, right next to the datasheet link. Then again, after working with these companies, it's not so surprising! Congrats on the launch.
I'm surprised this is a retail business. Doing this in conjunction with Digi-Key, Mouser, or Hamilton/Avnet would seem to make more sense. They already distribute the data sheets for the parts they sell. Also, it would be far cheaper to make footprints if you did them in bulk, working your way though long catalogs of similar parts.
Maybe the retail thing is to get some credibility so they can deal with the major distributors.
Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts
#50Why? Making schematic symbols and PCB footprints is not time consuming, and at least you'll have the proper paste mask. Altium has an IPC footprint generator wizard, and 3Dcontentcentral has lots of user contributed parts in STEP format.
> Why? Making schematic symbols and PCB footprints is not time consuming Whaaaaaat? o_O
I was just making some yesterday. It's time consuming if you use KiCad, which has a draw program with a UI from the 1990s. I could have drawn a footprint in Autodesk Inventor's sketch mode in a tenth of the time, and without having to use a calculator to compute distances from the data sheet drawing.
(CAD program UIs are really hard to do well. The big companies have it figured out at last, but the technology hasn't filtered down to open source yet.)