So I was all excited that my boards were in the batch for this week, and then I get an email that my order was cancelled because the drill file was misaligned/uncommon/unspecified.
After closer inspection, I discovered that by default, WinBoard produces decimal coordinates like so:
M48
T1C0.020
T2C0.026
T3C0.028
T4C0.130
%
M47 File: DRILL.th
G05
M72
T1
X1.120Y1.240
X1.290Y1.390
X1.380Y1.550
X1.480Y1.550
X1.636Y1.760
T2
X1.330Y1.090
X1.430Y1.090
… etc…
This format imports fine into ViewMate just fine with no option changes.
I can change to ‘Leading 0 Suppression’, which outputs a 2.4 format like so:
M48
T1C200
T2C260
T3C280
T4C1300
%
M47 File: DRILL.th
G05
M72
T1
X11200Y12400
X12900Y13900
X13800Y15500
X14800Y15500
This format imports into ViewMate correctly after changing the options to 2.4, leading 0 suppression.
However, the 2.4 format does not appear to be an acceptable format according to the faq, as the drill size info is not in decimal format as illustrated in the faq examples (T1C200 instead of T1C0.200).
Is anyone else using WinBoard as well? If so, what do you use for the drill file?
For the SFE folks, Is it the fact that the drill file was in decimal format that caused the problem (as opposed to misaligned or unspecified)? Can you recognize the second format with the non-decimal drill sizes, or do I have to manually edit those lines?
I resubmitted my boards for this week, this time selecting the ‘floating’ option for the drill format (first format above). It was cancelled again for not being able to align the drill file. Hmmmm…
I brought the files into work and got our board layout guru to import them into cam350. The decimal format version imported with no problems, and the 2.4 format required some massaging of the tool definition section (expected that section to be in decimal format regardless of the format of the rest of the file).
So I have successful imports into 2 different gerber viewers, but still no luck with SFE. I’m drawing a blank now. Migrating to Eagle is not really an option right now.
The SFE folks informed me that my boards finally imported successfully. For anyone else using WinBoard, or just looking for some ideas on how to get their files working, here’s what I did:
Gerber files were created using 2 different formats, either 2.4–leading suppression, or 2.3–none (default). I don’t know if it makes a difference at all with gerber files, as the only difference in my generated files was the very first line that defined the format.
NC Drill files were created using the Leading Zero Suppression option. In WinBoard, this only outputs 2.4 format coordinates as shown above. I then had to manually edit the tool definition section to convert the tool definitions from 2.4–leading to decimal.
In summary, here’s what I learned:
The Tool definition section of the drill file must have a decimal formatted number. Non-decimal numbers in this section can be mis-interpreted by import tools if additional import configuration is not performed (This happened to me with cam350, I ended up with a 1.3" hole instead of a 0.130" on a 1"sq board).
The coordinates in the rest of the drill file must be in a non-decimal format. The tools or import process used by SFE don’t currently seem to recognize decimal coordinates without an extra amount of configuration. Although this may change in future…
Just because some feature of a drill file is part of the spec doesn’t mean the file will be imported successfully by SFE. Cheap prices mean files formatted in a way that’s best for them, so they can import and panelize them without much hassle.