Gerber files
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From: pawihte on 16 Nov 2009 03:26 I've been designing and making PCBs for my own use for almost 40 years now. The few times I needed more than a couple of units, I had the pattern printed by local silk-screen printers. It's only recently that it has become practicable to outsource them from where I live in a remote location in India (I still have to send them off to distant cities). I used to design on graph paper, then with Amiga painting programs, and now with CircuitMaker 2000 for the past 8 years. As I always made my own PCBs, I never bothered with gerber files before. When I generate the Gerber files, I get 5 files with ..Apt, .GBL, .GTL, .GTO, and .MAT extensions; and 3 more for the drill files with .DRL, .TOL and .TXT extensions. All except the ..DRL are text files. My question is: Do I send all eight files along with the main pattern file to the PCB people? I know I should discuss it with them (including whether they can use CircuitMaker 2000 designs), but I wanted to have some background information first. Thanks in advance.
From: Herman on 16 Nov 2009 07:25 "pawihte" <pawihte(a)invalid.com> wrote in message news:hdr2c0$8sm$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > I've been designing and making PCBs for my own use for almost 40 years > now. The few times I needed more than a couple of units, I had the pattern > printed by local silk-screen printers. It's only recently that it has > become practicable to outsource them from where I live in a remote > location in India (I still have to send them off to distant cities). > > I used to design on graph paper, then with Amiga painting programs, and > now with CircuitMaker 2000 for the past 8 years. As I always made my own > PCBs, I never bothered with gerber files before. When I generate the > Gerber files, I get 5 files with .Apt, .GBL, .GTL, .GTO, and .MAT > extensions; and 3 more for the drill files with .DRL, .TOL and .TXT > extensions. All except the .DRL are text files. > > My question is: Do I send all eight files along with the main pattern file > to the PCB people? I know I should discuss it with them (including whether > they can use CircuitMaker 2000 designs), but I wanted to have some > background information first. > > Thanks in advance. >I also have been making my own boards for 40 years now and have been using >CircuitMaker 2000. For production quantity I use http://www.pcbcart.com >I send them all of the files and they use what they need. They are not >expensive and ship world wide in 10 days.
From: John Larkin on 16 Nov 2009 12:07 On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:56:33 +0530, "pawihte" <pawihte(a)invalid.com> wrote: >I've been designing and making PCBs for my own use for almost 40 >years now. The few times I needed more than a couple of units, I >had the pattern printed by local silk-screen printers. It's only >recently that it has become practicable to outsource them from >where I live in a remote location in India (I still have to send >them off to distant cities). > >I used to design on graph paper, then with Amiga painting >programs, and now with CircuitMaker 2000 for the past 8 years. As >I always made my own PCBs, I never bothered with gerber files >before. When I generate the Gerber files, I get 5 files with >.Apt, .GBL, .GTL, .GTO, and .MAT extensions; and 3 more for the >drill files with .DRL, .TOL and .TXT extensions. All except the >.DRL are text files. > >My question is: Do I send all eight files along with the main >pattern file to the PCB people? I know I should discuss it with >them (including whether they can use CircuitMaker 2000 designs), >but I wanted to have some background information first. > >Thanks in advance. > We produce a pcb fab drawing, showing the pcb outline dimensions, stackup, materials notes, solder mask and silk colors, all that sort of stuff, and make a PDF of that. We email that, zipped along with all the Gerber files, to the pcb house, and they seem to be able to figure it out. Our Gerbers have file names like art001.pho layer 1 nc stuff art001.rep layer 1 aperatures drl001.drl drill locations drl001.rep drill size/speed/feed data and so on for silks, solder masks, etc. John
From: George Herold on 16 Nov 2009 14:23 On Nov 16, 3:26 am, "pawihte" <pawi...(a)invalid.com> wrote: > I've been designing and making PCBs for my own use for almost 40 > years now. The few times I needed more than a couple of units, I > had the pattern printed by local silk-screen printers. It's only > recently that it has become practicable to outsource them from > where I live in a remote location in India (I still have to send > them off to distant cities). > > I used to design on graph paper, then with Amiga painting > programs, and now with CircuitMaker 2000 for the past 8 years. As > I always made my own PCBs, I never bothered with gerber files > before. When I generate the Gerber files, I get 5 files with > .Apt, .GBL, .GTL, .GTO, and .MAT extensions; and 3 more for the > drill files with .DRL, .TOL and .TXT extensions. All except the > .DRL are text files. > > My question is: Do I send all eight files along with the main > pattern file to the PCB people? I know I should discuss it with > them (including whether they can use CircuitMaker 2000 designs), > but I wanted to have some background information first. > > Thanks in advance. Your best bet is going to be to contact the board house that will be making the PCB's. See if they know the software you are using. Some software mirrors the boards before making the Gerbers and this has caused me mistakes in the past. (At some point I resorted to writing "dummy" text in copper to make sure everything was as it should be.) Also ask the board house which files they want and how to designate them. George H.
From: pawihte on 17 Nov 2009 06:06
pawihte wrote: > I've been designing and making PCBs for my own use for almost > 40 > years now. The few times I needed more than a couple of units, > I > had the pattern printed by local silk-screen printers. It's > only > recently that it has become practicable to outsource them from > where I live in a remote location in India (I still have to > send > them off to distant cities). > > I used to design on graph paper, then with Amiga painting > programs, and now with CircuitMaker 2000 for the past 8 years. > As > I always made my own PCBs, I never bothered with gerber files > before. When I generate the Gerber files, I get 5 files with > .Apt, .GBL, .GTL, .GTO, and .MAT extensions; and 3 more for the > drill files with .DRL, .TOL and .TXT extensions. All except the > .DRL are text files. > > My question is: Do I send all eight files along with the main > pattern file to the PCB people? I know I should discuss it with > them (including whether they can use CircuitMaker 2000 > designs), > but I wanted to have some background information first. > > Thanks in advance. Thanks for the replies. I couldn't reply earlier because I could not log on to the eternal-september server. One thing I gathered from your replies is that there doesn't seem to be a universal standard for sending instructions and that it pretty much depends on communication between PCB house and customer. Is that correct? |