So, it may seem odd but in all the years I have been doing electronics and fabrication, I have never designed my own PCB for manufacture. I have made my own boards with tape and stick on pads, and even with a resist pen. But in the age of PCB design software, other people did that part and I never learned it.

Well, I have decided to change that and I’ve landed on EasyEDA. Here’s my thinking:

1. It’s free
2. It seems well designed and easy to work with
3. It runs on all the platforms I might use, including my home: MacOS—it even runs in a browser if needed
4. It is vertically integrated with both JCLPCB and LCSC so BOM building is trivial and purchasing is automatic
5. It includes schematic capture, LTSPICE-based simulation, and PCB design in one package

I am fairly convinced that it is a good choice but I would like to know about hidden traps, pitfalls, and concerns that users of EasyEDA have to offer. The idea that I can draw a schematic using a huge library of actually available parts, with live pricing; then design the PCB; then have it manufactured including parts assembly for many of the parts, all for a good price in a reasonable time is very attractive.

So, any advice, warnings, encouragement, &c.?

 

Ha - the shortcomings doesn't help unless you have something better to compare it to - and all the shortcomings of the other to look back at EasyEDA - but I now understand some decisions and recommendations I've been reading.

 

I went from an outdated version of Eagle to EasyEDA, and I haven't looked back. I find to truly easy to use, without the steep learning curve of Eagle.

The component library is huge, and it's easy to import Eagle symbols and footprints, which means the library managers many suppliers provide can be used.

The only gotcha I have experienced is with user-provided symbols and footprints. If you must use these, check them carefully for errors.