Search components in all libraries?

[remiBB5EP]

Hello everyone,

This is my second PCB design with Fusion 360 and I am struggling finding components in the library. For my first PCB I did all manually (schema, footprint, and 3D) for all component, some found on distributor website. It's VERY painful to add a new component, many steps to get it in the library.

I think I must do something wrong though. I cannot find anything useful in the libraries available.

Say I search for something as simple as a mosfet like 2N7000. How can I search in all libraries?

If no way, is there any direct way to add it from https://octopart.componentsearchengine.com/part.php?partID=251289&p=1&tok=1h1l1ccu3A6jqqjp (I am using macOS and ECAD does not work)

I can find the lib in Eagle folder and 3D step, but no footprint and no way to add it with so many steps it defeat the purpose of having Fusion 360 compared to simple products. Only way is to create a new lib, add the .lib, upload to library.io, create a new footprint, create a new component, upload step file, add it to the component. etc... takes many minutes if you do it correctly and can really be a horror story!

Thank you for any tip!

Torpi

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @remiBB5EP,

I hope this message finds you well. If you go into the library manager, you'll see that you can enable the old EAGLE libraries. Even though many of them don't contain 3D models they are still a valuable resource and you'll find many more components there. If you haven't already done so I would recommend enabling the old EAGLE libs.

Another thing you can do is use the SnapEDA and Ultralibrarian plug-ins for Fusion 360. These can help you find millions of parts and bring them directly into Fusion 360.

https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=5446990520022318629&appLang=en&os=Win64

https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=8116232332146395670&appLang=en&os=Win64

Those are the links for the plugins. Let me know if you run into any problems

Best Regards,

[remiBB5EP]

Thank you. I guess I expected to get more out of F360 without plugins.

What is frustrating is that adding a new component is not just as simple as a drag and drop of the lib and 3D step. It takes so many steps to import it.

Also it would be nice to search within all libraries, even if not included. It’s not always easy to know in which library it is.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @remiBB5EP,

I hope you're doing well. We are working on making these experiences smoother. With that said I personally enable all of the libraries that way when I search, I search through all of the libraries. At this point the search functionality is fast enough that it's not a problem to 18000+ parts available for use.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[remiBB5EP]

Thanks for your response.

Is there any drawback if I activate all libraries? Does it include it in the project and has an incidence when sharing or exporting on the computer? Or is it just a search filter?

I am designing with Fusion for home projects. Having the right footprint + 3D helps for PCB ordering and design of 3D printed enclosure. Building my library for simple components that are pretty standard is really painful.

@jorge_garcia, do you recommend specific manufacturer/brands for standard components that provides CAD and 3D?

I am speaking about: Terminal blocks, pin headers, mosfets, relays, dc/dc converters, logic gates, etc... things you use in many "DIY" home projects.  I am not trying to optimize costs here, only reduce hours building library (compared to minutes designing the schematics!)

Thank you for any advice!

Torpi

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @remiBB5EP,

I hope you're doing well. There really isn't a drawback to having all the libraries active, they don't travel with the schematic and board design. Only the components you actually used stay in the design.

For pinheaders, check the pinhead library and all of the con libraries. For simple 0.1" headers you'll find what you need in the pin head library. Logic gates can be found in the 74xx and 40xx libraries.

The plug-ins I mentioned above can cover the ease of entry you want. They are both free so there's nothing to lose by trying them out. I do want to mention a caveat to this whole libraries conversation that I think you should be aware of. If you design boards long enough(won't be long) you will eventually run into footprints that have been made incorrectly and you will likely lose boards because of it.

For this reason, you'll find that most pros make their own libraries and completely refuse to use anything they haven't made and verified themselves. There are lots of services that make components but inevitably the components are made by software and not designers (it's the only way to amass a library of millions of parts) so errors are inevitable.

I encourage you to learn to make your own parts, the first one will take some time but once you are fluent you can make parts in a few mins, which is less time than downloading a part someone else made and verifying that it's correct. There are libraries that contain footprints which you can reuse when making your own parts, making the process even faster. These are the ref-packages libraries.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[remiBB5EP]

Thank you @jorge_garcia for the information. It helps.

While I agree with footprints and schematics, it is laborious when you have to design the 3D models of all the components. Resistor, Capacitors and standard chips are fast to draw but other components are not so fast to design.

As an example those are the one I had to do myself for my last project:

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @remiBB5EP,

I commend you, you are very proficient at modeling the components. For the 3D models you can usually get those from the manufacturer directly. It's a pain but it can often save you the work of modeling the part yourself. The plug-ins we've spoken about are the easiest way to get a 3D model without having to make one yourself. In the meantime we are working on making 3D models more re-useable so that you can just grab existing 3D models from other libraires.

Best Regards,

[nathan_langford6LLCW]

Is there a way to enable all of the libraries easily? Or do I need to click "in-use" for all 871 libraries?

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @nathan_langford6LLCW,

For now you have in-use all of the libraries however that will be less of an issue soon. In an upcoming release you'll actually be able to see what libraries have a certain part before you even enable them. IOW, you can search for parts without having to enable all of the libs.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[philippeAGU]

Dear Jorge

I am currently trying to add the libraries of components to Fusion 360 as you mentionned, i added SnapEDA, that seems to be a great search tool to add the component that one needs but it seems it does it one by one using the component reference. which is qlreqdy greqt, but do you know a library that can also be added that has the basic components already available?

by the way, your link for the Ultralibrarian is no longer working, i found this link for their reader: https://www.ultralibrarian.com/products/free-reader/

As you mentionned regarding the problem of design mistakes, since the Ultra Librarian is just  reader, i guess this is not possible to edit a mistake of design? but i guess most of the design are made by constructors and should be allright?

Since your message is from 2023, may be there are better ways to add components libraries now?

thanks a lot

Philippe

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @philippeAGU,

I hope you're doing well. So a few things have improved since this thread was opened. In the library manager, you can now search for a component across all of the libraries by typing the part number in the filter field. It will show you what libraries contain that part, so it's easy to put them into use and consume the part. The ultra librarian and snapeda plugins are third party plugins so we don't have much control over them.

I would like to see a situation where it is easy to incorporate third party libraries for those who want to use them, but the real win in my opinion will be improving the tools for drawing and creating your own parts. Components that follow IPC conventions and have standard footprints are generally correct but there are a TON of components that don't follow that like magnetics, specialized connectors, photonics, etc.

The improvement in the library manager will definitely make it easy to find all of the parts that are in pre-existing libraries, so you can benefit from this already. The other stuff I'll put in as a feature request.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[ericd_murphy]

Hi there, along the same line...I know most parts are in fusion, but they are difficult to find, to say the least. I was searching for a part, eventually found it, and if you go to properties, it gives you a digikey part number.  However, if you then search directly for that digikey part number(in fusion) it WILL NOT find that part!  How is this a thing?  Is there a way to search for digikey part numbers, or the manufacture part number off the digikey website?  Its super frustrating that fusion knows the part number, but won't find it when I search for it.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @ericd_murphy ,

This is a known limitation of the Place Components Panel(PCP). I'll add your comments to the existing ticket for it.  Currently the PCP doesn't search through attributes which is where you found the digikey part number. I'll keep pushing to see how quickly this can be resolved.

In the meantime, if you search through the library manager it will now check all libraries and let you know which libraries contain the part. That should make things easier. Additionally, for now stick to the manufacturer's part number  that will give you the best chance of success.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,