Hi, I meant to reply to this the other day, to make a couple of quick points.
On 05/03/2012, at 1:11 PM, rickman wrote: > I had seen that, but it doesn't fix my problem of the drill files not > having proper tool size spec. What is the status of your problem? Do you need any help with anything? > Yes, but it is still work to do the conversion or whatever they need to > do. When someone sends me a PDF file I don't have to determine what > size paper is was intended for or whether it is portrait or landscape, > etc. I just open it in Acrobat or Sumatra or whatever I use for viewing > PDF files. As an engineer it pains me whenever I see inefficiency > especially when it impacts schedules or results. A better example would be a comparison to the printing (publishing) industry. If you want to publish a novel (or engineering manual) then what format do you use? I bet there are lots of problems sending files if you don't use exactly the same software as the printers/publishers. Not so long ago most publishers would only accept manuscripts double spaced on A4 (or similar). > I now know that a drill file should properly contain the tool sizes. > But on the other hand as Steve pointed out neither the conventional > Excellon drill files nor any of the routing file formats are truly > appropriate for conveying drill or routing data unless it is intended > for a particular machine. In reality there should either be a single > standard for all machines (which ain't gonna happen) or some > appropriate, independent standard should be devised. The Excellon > format seems to be a defacto standard for drills, but none seems to > exist for routing. The routing I have seen on PCBs appear simple enough > to be conveyed by a Gerber file. The point here is that sending hardware specific codes is a poor strategy. The designer should only have to send a specification. It is up to the manufacturer to convert that specification into whatever they need to operate their factory to produce the specified boards. A rout file is a good example of this. You can't supply a useful rout file unless you know what tool sizes are available at the factory. > In their defense I read a web site that explained why, after more than > one attempt had been made to define a new standard for PCB etching > patterns which could include all of the other information important for > making PCBs, the industry sticks with Gerber files. Basically it comes > down to the fact that many of the errors in Gerber files are errors in > usage (which is not an adequate reason in my opinion) and that the > learning curve would not be without its own errors resulting in > significant short term costs. In many ways the current system is the > "devil we know". Importing Gerber format is a bit like trying to create a document by importing a PDF. It can probably be made to work most of the time but a PDF file could just be one big bitmap which would be difficult to import. Steve. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ Gerbv-devel mailing list Gerbv-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gerbv-devel
