FRCDesignLib: The Onshape FRC Parts Library

What FRCDesignLib is

FRCDesignLib is a large, free, community-maintained library of FRC COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) parts built natively for Onshape. You access it through the FRCDesignApp, a free Onshape app, and it is maintained by the FRCDesign.org community. It puts thousands of real FRC parts a couple of clicks away inside your CAD.

A note on MKCad: older guides may point you to MKCad (an earlier Onshape FRC library from Team 1836, The MilkenKnights). MKCad is no longer the community standard and is effectively unmaintained — use FRCDesignLib instead for any new work.

What it contains

FRCDesignLib aims to include the COTS parts teams actually put on a competition robot, drawn from vendors like VEXpro/VEX Robotics, WCP, AndyMark, REV Robotics, and McMaster-Carr. Categories include:

• Bearings
• Electronics (simplified and full-detail models)
• Fasteners
• COTS gearboxes
• Gears, hubs, pulleys, and sprockets
• Motors and sensors
• Snap rings, shaft collars, and standard spacers
• Wheels and structural extrusion

Because the parts are native to Onshape, each already carries the correct name, color, and mass — so your assembly BOM is auto-populated with sensible names and your weight estimate is meaningful.

How to set it up

1. Install the FRCDesignApp from the Onshape App Store (free). It adds a searchable in-app browser that inserts FRCDesignLib parts directly into a Part Studio or assembly. See the setup guide on FRCDesign.org's Part Library page.
2. Browse the library reference on the FRCDesignLib resource page, which also explains how to contribute new parts.

A mentor or experienced student usually installs the app on the team Onshape account once, after which everyone on the team can use it.

Why this changes your workflow

Without a library, inserting a gearbox means hunting for a STEP file, importing it, and cleaning it up. With a native library you search "NEO" or "MAXPlanetary" and insert the part in seconds with correct mass and naming. That dramatically speeds up assembly work and keeps your BOM clean.

Cautions and good habits

• Check the part is current. Community libraries can lag a vendor's latest revision — verify critical dimensions against the vendor's own CAD before manufacturing a mating part.
• Insert, do not reinvent. If a part exists in the library, use it rather than modeling your own.
• Keep your design and the library separate. Treat library parts as fixed references; do your custom design in your own Part Studios.

A maintained parts library plus vendor CAD means you spend your time designing the custom parts that make your robot unique — not re-drawing bolts and bearings.