An Easy-to-Use Printed Circuit Board Design Tool

Leading printed circuit board (PCB) design platform, Patchr, has introduced its PCB design service which makes printed circuit board design accessible to everyone. Patchr's new software makes PCB design the easy part of creating electronic hardware projects. The design tool brings the usability of tools such as Sketch, Photoshop, and Canva to PCB design and allows electronics makers to quickly and easily bring ideas to life.

Currently, electronics enthusiasts have experienced a shrinking market of PCB design tools. With Circuits.io going offline and open-source options Fritzing and KiCad failing to update their software, users have suffered from a lack of options, especially when it comes to software with an intuitive user interface.

According to Eric Schneider, CEO and Founder of Patchr, for too long, one has needed an EE degree to be able to design a circuit board. As a maker himself, he has been disappointed in the usability of PCB design software and thus he assembled a team to build a better solution, the Patchr.io. Schneider is alum of experience agency Chaotic Moon and has built futurist electronic projects such as Tech Tattoos and a flame-throwing drone.

Patchr also integrates with PCB manufacturers such as OSH Park and MacroFab, and milling machines like Bantam Tools, so you can export to manufacturing effortlessly. The design tool tackles two market segments. 1) Hobbyist makers without the resources for a platform like Autodesk Eagle and 2) educators looking to let students get hands-on to learn circuitry and electronics design.

Currently, there are two software versions - free/open-source and premium. For a limited time, the premium version is free for 3 months.