CADSSTAR Express free pcb design software hero image

Free PCB Design Software - CADSTAR Express

All the functionality of CADSTAR, limited to 300 pins & 50 components

(Updated: September 2022)

Zuken’s free PCB Design Software, CADSTAR Express, provides a quick and easy way for you to experience the basic features of our standard single-board PCB design software solution, CADSTAR. It includes all the core functionality of CADSTAR 2020, limited to 300 pins and 50 components, plus the opportunity to experience Zuken’s place and route editor tool P.R.Editor XR 2000.

CADSTAR PCB design software allows you to draw schematic designs and transfer them to the PCB layout environment. After an error-free transfer, CADSTAR helps to place the components into the board outline.

Placement and Routing is an integral part of a PCB design process. CADSTAR offers great flexibility in this area by providing both Push-aside Placement and Routing tools (manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic) within the Embedded Place & Route Editor or the advanced standalone Place & Route Editor (P.R.Editor XR 2000).  The CADSTAR Variant Manager enables you to generate variants of a ‘master’ design (included B.O.M’s and assembly drawings) without having to maintain separate files for each variant.

The completion of the PCB design is followed by the generation of manufacturing output data for PCB fabrication.

Free PCB Design Software

CADSTAR Express is free to use and download.

Simply register your details to receive an email containing your link to download CADSTAR Express and password to complete the install.

Additional resources

Included within the CADSTAR Express software is a 130 page ‘Do-It-Yourself’ manual to guide you through 4 different PCB Design processes.
The 35 ‘how-to’ demonstration movies contained within the DIY manual will guide you through how to design a PCB, including:

  • how to transform a hand drawn electronic circuit into a professional PCB schematic design.
  • how to create an error-free transfer of data from schematic design to a PCB layout and then place and route components.
  • how to generate CAM outputs that will generate the necessary artwork, reports and files needed to get your PCB built by your preferred fabrication vendor.
  • how to create schematic symbols, component and parts for future CADSTAR libraries.

The guide is included as part of the CADSTAR Express software download and will open on launch of the software.

Alternatively the CADSTAR Express ‘Do-It-Yourself’ guide is also available to download as an individual file.

Download the CADSTAR Express Tutorial

Zuken’s free PCB design software, CADSTAR Express, offers a glance into the process of designing a simple PCB, but it does not include all features of CADSTAR as noted below.

Should you prefer a fully comprehensive 30-day evaluation of CADSTAR, that does include all features within CADSTAR, please contact your local CADSTAR distributor to request a full 30-day evaluation version.

Features NOT AVAILABLE within CADSTAR Express include:

  • high-speed length or delay-based routing
  • advanced Signal Integrity solutions
  • a 3D electro-mechanical verification environment
  • the CADSTAR Design Migration Tool

Contact your local CADSTAR Reseller

Register for access

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