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Global Japanese electronics firm Panasonic and online electronics design library SnapEDA have teamed up to offer more than 75,000 new open-source CAD models for Panasonic’s electronics components.
The free collection of CAD models will enable engineers to make custom 3D printed products with Panasonic’s electronics components, such as its radial and surface mount resistors, capacitors and inductors. The resources can be downloaded from SnapEDA’s website, and are also accessible through its syndication partners.
“Panasonic strives to provide the highest quality products to their customers and these new CAD models are no exception,” said Natasha Baker, Founder and CEO of SnapEDA.
“Our new collaboration brings thousands of new high quality CAD models to engineers, streamlining their design process and enabling them to move to scale faster and more reliably with Panasonic components.”
Panasonic and 3D printing
Panasonic delivers a broad range of technologies and applications for the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, housing, and B2B sectors.
The company has been experimenting with 3D printing for some time, having worked with Materialise to create custom 3D printed covers for its Lumix camera range in 2014, and later launching a 3D printing photo lab and a 3D scanning booth with its 120 Lumix cameras.
Panasonic has also become a customer of industrial 3D printer manufacturer Optomec, which offers a full range of 3D printing systems based on its proprietary LENS and AJP technologies, and has previously invested in rapidly-growing 3D printer manufacturer Desktop Metal.
Open-source resources for engineers
SnapEDA is a leading search engine for electronics designs, and is relied on by over a million professional engineers. The firm also supports component suppliers to scale up demand for their products digitally, and to track the design journey of their parts through to purchase.
The newly available CAD models include schematic symbols and PCB footprints for electronics designs, in addition to 3D mechanical models to ensure adequate mechanical clearances and design visualization. SnapEDA’s patented verification technology will also provide engineers with real-time reports so they can gain transparency into the manufacturability of the models.
Compatible with all major electronics and mechanical design tools, the 75,000-strong collection of CAD models covers Panasonic’s radial and surface mount resistors, capacitors, and inductors, as well as other products. The designs are freely available not only through SnapEDA’s website but also through the company’s syndication partners Digi-Key, RS Components’ Design Spar, and Mouser.
The models are based on IPC-7351B and IEE-315 standards, as well as SnapEDA’s own, and support more than 15 PCB design formats. Such formats include Altium, KiCad, Autodesk EAGLE and Fusion 360, Cadence OrCAD and Allegro, Mentor PADS, DesignSpark, Pulsonix, DipTrace, Proteus, and others.
“Panasonic is proud to support its customers with CAD models through SnapEDA’s global design community,” said Tetsuya Fukuzawa, Director at Panasonic Industrial Solutions. “In mere weeks, SnapEDA created and verified over 75,000 CAD models and their rapid support made the process seamless.”
By making the CAD models open-source, the partnership aims to accelerate product development with Panasonic’s components and facilitate the development of new technologies. The models can be downloaded for free from SnapEDA’s website.
Nominations for the 2021 3D Printing Industry Awards are now open, have your say who is leading the industry now.
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Featured image shows one of the open-source Panasonic CAD models. Image via SnapEDA.
