On Friday, December 30, 2011 08:44:08 PM Frank Tkalcevic did opine: > > > Just out of curiousity Gene, why are you trying to use Inkscape for > > > PC boards when you could use Kicad, gEDA or the free version of > > > Eagle? > > > > Can you say learning curve, combined with best utility? Inkscape, > > with > > the > > > gcodes package installed, can export to gcode for starters, gEDA > > couldn't > > the > > > last time I looked, neither could eagle's free version, and I couldn't > > find such > > > a beast in KiCad's menu's 17 hours ago. This may not be the best way, > > but from this admittedly beginner at chemical-less pcb fab, it looks > > like the > > best > > > way. As for chemical fab, I did a lot of that back in the 60's when I > > was > > at > > > KOTA-TV in Rapid City because we made 50% or more of the stations gear > > in- house, including our dual microwave setup with a side leg to KDUH > > in Nebraska, from Rapid City to KLZ's old site on Lookout Mountain > > near denver. Some of it, from Rapid City to a site in the Agate Beds > > National Monument, was also dual channel back-haul, and to that point > > all remote controlled from the Rapid City studios. In fact I designed > > and built the > > remote > > > controller, using then state of the art touch tone decoding relays. > > My > > gawd, > > > that is nearly 50 years ago now. Getting old isn't for wimps... > > All of the electronics design software will generate gerber files that > you can send off to get professionally made. I use www.batchpcb.com > all the time - at least to upload and get an instant quote. Cheap, but > a bit slow. > > Or, once you have your gerber file, you can use Line Grinder > (http://www.ofitselfso.com/LineGrinder/LineGrinder.php) to generate the > isolation milling GCode. I haven't tried it yet - still on my todo > list. > I haven't tried to use gEDA to generate a gerber yet, again it seems the learning curve is too great for an aging old fart like me.
What I did do, was to export as gcode, an _almost_ usable file, I had to put some header type stuff in it, and strip out all the stuff it did for the first, ought to have been invisible layer, and wound up with something that looked as if it might work in the axis backplot. Then I tried to run it and discovered that I either needed to subtract the bit diameter from my dot diameters, or turn on compensation for a .125" diameter mill. At that point I have hit a brick wall, any form of G41 or G42 results in a leadin error in several cases or last, a corner gouging error because no matter where I put the bit, it doesn't apply the comp until the leadin to cut a circle, after it is at Z depth. GCode: % (Header) (Generated by gcodetools from Inkscape.) (Using default header. To add your own header create file "header" in the output dir.) G20 G40 s2500 g17 (circles in XY plane) t1 (is 1/8" diameter mill) m6 G0 F15 Z1.5 x-0.5 (gouging warning error is reported here) g41 (I've had this up and down several lines after the T1, m6) ( but little effect. Same exact error response for a G42) ( and the same 95% of a circle backplot is drawn before ( it self aborts on a reload. ) g1f5 x-1 (trying to give it some room to apply comp, doesn't get this far) (Header end.) (Start cutting path id: path3031-061-4-2) G00 Z0.500000 G00 X1.402000 Y0.106000 m3 (enable spindle at full speed) G01 Z-0.125000 F100.0(Penetrate) G02 X1.368317 Y0.024683 Z-0.125000 I-0.115000 J-0.000000 F400.000000 G02 X1.287000 Y-0.009000 Z-0.125000 I-0.081317 J0.081317 G02 X1.205683 Y0.024683 Z-0.125000 I0.000000 J0.115000 G02 X1.172000 Y0.106000 Z-0.125000 I0.081317 J0.081317 G02 X1.205683 Y0.187317 Z-0.125000 I0.115000 J0.000000 G02 X1.287000 Y0.221000 Z-0.125000 I0.081317 J-0.081317 G02 X1.368317 Y0.187317 Z-0.125000 I-0.000000 J-0.115000 G02 X1.402000 Y0.106000 Z-0.125000 I-0.081317 J-0.081317 G01 X1.402000 Y0.106000 Z-0.125000 G00 Z0.500000 To cut first clearance pocket. It will need edited for proper Z cut depth. If I remove the G41 and raise the z zero, it cuts air nicely but the radius is excess by .0625". So, what am I doing wrong here? Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> Used staples are good with SOY SAUCE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ridiculously easy VDI. With Citrix VDI-in-a-Box, you don't need a complex infrastructure or vast IT resources to deliver seamless, secure access to virtual desktops. With this all-in-one solution, easily deploy virtual desktops for less than the cost of PCs and save 60% on VDI infrastructure costs. Try it free! http://p.sf.net/sfu/Citrix-VDIinabox _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
