15 Apr
2008
15 Apr
'08
7:27 p.m.
Everyone seems
to want Gerbers, but without documenting exactly what
they are. I found a PDF describing "RS-274X", which appears to be
most of it, but there are lots of conventions it doesn't describe.
That's
the spec. What is missing? The Wikipedia page has useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_File
You also need an Excellon drill file:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excellon
I'll have a look. Thank you. (Duh...I really should have thought of
Wikipedia myself.)
I've found
indications that there exists some open-source software,
but extracting documentation from code is a mess.
I dunno about extracting
documentation, but gEDA is purportedly
useful for doing board layout. I use Eagle (from CadSoft). It's not open source,
but it's less
expensive than most commercial alternatives, and it seems to work
well. For nonprofit use, there's a "free" version that's limited to
100x80 mm double-sided boards,
Even if I were willing to run code I don't have source to (I'm not; I'd
sooner throw some money to someone on the list to do it for me than run
something I don't have source to), it wouldn't be free even as in beer,
because (AIUI) Eagle is a Windows program, and Windows ain't cheap.
Is there anyone who'd be willing to exchange some files with me -
sample files for me to sanity-check my understanding, in one direction,
and tests to see if my generation is correct, in the other? I'd just
as soon not have a board made until I'm reasonably sure I've got the
board description right. :)
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