I am working on my first BatchPCB order. I have uploaded a design and gotten back confirmation that it passed DRC. However, on the images sent back to me, I don’t see any indication of the drill holes. Is this normal or does it suggest that my drill file wasn’t interpreted as expected?
-M
It seems to be normal for the bot when the hole is surrounded by copper. If its a plain hole (not a via or thru-hole pad), you will see it. Looks like it draws the copper after the drill holes and thus covers them up in the drawing.
I ran into the same thing with my last order. Kinda freaked me out, but I searched around the forum for board outputs from other projects people had posted and they looked the same. Would be cool if they could fix that, since if your drill file was totally out of sync, it would potentially have the same look.
Vraz:
It seems to be normal for the bot when the hole is surrounded by copper. If its a plain hole (not a via or thru-hole pad), you will see it. Looks like it draws the copper after the drill holes and thus covers them up in the drawing.I ran into the same thing with my last order. Kinda freaked me out, but I searched around the forum for board outputs from other projects people had posted and they looked the same. Would be cool if they could fix that, since if your drill file was totally out of sync, it would potentially have the same look.
Vraz,
You are partially correct. The holes must be on the Drill and Holes layer (in Eagle) for them to show. Then they only show if the hole is plain, and not a via or pad.
James L
Interesting. So Eagle defaults Vias as layers 1-16 (all the signal layers). Drills & Holes are layers 44 & 45. Does that mean you need to change Vias to layers 1-45 or ...? From your response, I assume the cam job must pickup extra data from the drill/holes layers that essentially "punches" through the copper pad pours on the gerber?The holes must be on the Drill and Holes layer (in Eagle) for them to show.
Appreciate any other details-- I didn’t realize there was a way around this. Thanks.
Vraz:
Interesting. So Eagle defaults Vias as layers 1-16 (all the signal layers). Drills & Holes are layers 44 & 45. Does that mean you need to change Vias to layers 1-45 or ...? From your response, I assume the cam job must pickup extra data from the drill/holes layers that essentially "punches" through the copper pad pours on the gerber?The holes must be on the Drill and Holes layer (in Eagle) for them to show.
Appreciate any other details-- I didn’t realize there was a way around this. Thanks.
Vraz,
No…I’m sorry…I must have stated something that confused the situation. No hole with an associated copper layer will show on the image files returned from BatchPCB. (This mean’s vias and DIP pads will appear to be solid).
On the other hand, if your holes (like board mounting holes) are not on the “holes” layer, they will not show.
Only plain holes will show in the PNG file returned from BatchPCB (holes just through the bare board…no copper clad). Via’s and other holes similar are covered with the copper layer in the PNG file.
I hope this clears up the confusion I created.
James L
Makes complete sense. Thanks for the clarification!I hope this clears up the confusion I created.
Just as a heads up - The bot never draws “holes”… what you’re seeing as a hole is the lack of any other layer being drawn. The black regions merely indicate that at that point there is no silkscreen, soldermask or copper.
Cheers,
–David Carne
busonerd:
Just as a heads up - The bot never draws “holes”… what you’re seeing as a hole is the lack of any other layer being drawn. The black regions merely indicate that at that point there is no silkscreen, soldermask or copper.Cheers,
–David Carne
David,
That actually makes sense, but thanks for the clarification, I will put that in the next thread about holes. You have told me that before, I just usually do not put it that way because of confusion.
A hole is a lack of anything, copper clad or other material.
James L
I just add that because the behavior of the “Holes” layer in eagle is dependant on the output cam settings; it can cause a hole in the soldermask in some cases, and not in others.
Cheers,
–David Carne
Thanks for the clarifications.
I guess the next question becomes: How hard would it be to modify the bot’s output so that we can be certain that the holes are coming out as expected?
-M