On Sunday, 23 February 2020 11:14:43 GMT Terry Coles wrote: > I'm not skilled in the art of PCB design, but my partially informed guess > would be 'Drilling Template' layer.
On re-reading the original discussion, I see that the reference is to a DT file, rather than a DT Layer. In the context of PCB fabrication the file that we always sent to the PCB manufacturer was a 'Gerber File' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_format[1]). You will see from the link that the drilling data forms part of the Gerber file content. However, the further discussion in your message says: > ‘KiCAD works at the level of schematic and it doesn't have a whole > lot in terms of what the logical flow of the device is so what it > would need is some way to describe the logical connections between > the devices and then from that be able to generate a DT file. That > would be incredibly useful. It would be possible I think to create > an ad-hoc tool using a convention on the signal names so going > through level shifters would be able to use a signal-name convention > to associate components with buses and then from there generate a DT > file.’ This doesn't seem to refer to a drilling template at all and the OP seems to think that it would be useful to allow auto-routing. At the moment I have no idea whether KiCAD can do that, let alone provide the drilling data. BTW, auto-routing is when the software provides the tools to draw the circuit diagram of the product and the PCB layout is automatically produced with all tracks, layers and plated-through holes included. There are free web tools that can do that and at one point in the WMT development cycle we were evaluating these two: upverter.com <http://upverter.com/ easyeda.com <http://easyeda.com/ (These are free to but not Free in the FOSS sense.) In the end, it was cheaper to buy in ready-made modules and link them together with wires. We had one PCB design at the proposal stage, but getting the board fabricated was going to cost us around £30+ for each unless we bought loads and then we had to factor in the cost of the components. The total cost of the modules needed was considerably less, so we abandoned the idea. However. there's much more labour involved and far more room for error as I've found over the past 6 months or so ;-( -- Terry Coles -------- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_format -- Next meeting: BEC, Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2020-02-04 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
