P-CAD Viewer Online — Open ACCEL_ASCII .pcb Files in 3D
P-CAD Is Gone. Your Boards Are Not.
P-CAD was discontinued in 2006, which makes viewing old designs surprisingly hard. MakerSuite 3D parses P-CAD ACCEL_ASCII .pcb files directly: the library section (pad styles, via styles, patterns), the netlist, and the pcbDesign layout all render as an interactive 3D board in your browser.
How to View a P-CAD Board Online
- Open MakerSuite 3D — no login or installation needed
- If your file is binary, export ASCII from P-CAD (File → Save As → ACCEL ASCII) or from the Altium P-CAD importer
- Drop the .pcb file onto the drop zone
- Inspect nets, measure distances, and export the BOM with live supplier pricing
Open your P-CAD board in 3D - free.
Try MakerSuite 3D FreeWhat the P-CAD Parser Reads
- Pad and via styles — hole diameter, per-layer shapes (Ellipse, Rect, RndRect) with real sizes
- Patterns — both patternDef and patternDefExtended, placed with rotation and isFlipped mirroring
- Nets — node lists map straight onto pads for click-to-highlight connectivity
- Copper pours — copperPour95 polygon islands render on their signal layers
Also Supports 7 More PCB Formats
KiCad, Gerber, Eagle, EasyEDA, Altium, PADS ASCII, and Protel 99 SE files open in the same tab — one viewer for the whole archive shelf.
About the ACCEL_ASCII Format
ACCEL EDA (later P-CAD) used a parenthesized, s-expression-like text format that is pleasantly regular: every value is named, units are declared in the header, and coordinates follow a simple Cartesian convention.
That regularity is why KiCad ships a P-CAD importer and why this viewer can parse the format with the same tokenizer it uses for KiCad boards. If you later migrate, the KiCad File → Import → Non-KiCad Board accepts the same files.
Frequently Asked Questions
P-CAD was discontinued - can I still open my boards?
Yes. ACCEL_ASCII .pcb files parse directly in the browser. For binary P-CAD files, export ASCII once from P-CAD or via the Altium P-CAD importer.
What parts of the file are read?
Pad and via styles with real sizes, patternDef and patternDefExtended footprints, net lists mapped onto pads, per-layer tracks, and copperPour95 polygon islands.
Can I migrate these boards to a modern tool afterwards?
Yes - KiCad imports the same ACCEL_ASCII files via File > Import > Non-KiCad Board, so viewing here and migrating later work from the same export.
Is anything uploaded to a server?
No. Parsing is 100% client-side; the design never leaves your machine.
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