Hi folks,
I have three sets of Gerber Files for three different designs. How do I merge these three Gerber files into a single set of Gerber files so that the fab shop can accept it? Thanks
I would appreciate some kind of tutorial. I use Eagle for pcb design and Viewmate Delux for viewing Gerber files.
smdfan
Check with your PCB supplier. They might prefer separate files.
Hi Leon,
You might check the Eagle board forum to see if there is a way to do that in Eagle. ( http://www.cadsoftusa.com/forum.htm )
The only other easy way to do that would be with a Gerber editor. If you know Gerber code it’s possible to merge Gerber files in a text editor, but it’s tricky because you’d need to know how much to offset each file and you’d need to remove the the end of file command for all but the last file.
If the savings justify it you could hire a front end engineering company to merge the files for you.
I don’t know if this will help, but just this week, I needed to get a kapton stencil made for two small designs (~3.5’x2’ each). I knew that each design would be placed on a seperate sheet of Kapton and I would end up paying for both ie. twice the price. I decided to give copy and pasting a shot.
I created a new project in Eagle and called it “X Panel”. I then opened the first design, turned on ALL layers, did a group cut (actually copy). I closed the design, opened the panel project board up and did a paste. The design pasted, fully in tact, with all layers. I did the same with the second design and was able to paste it right next to the first. Both designs are the same board size, so it was easy to align them up nice.
I saved the board file, clicked ratsnest to make sure my copper pours were ok. I then ran the Gerber generation script to create new Gerbers with both designs on the panel. I checked the Gerbers in ViewMate and everything looked good.
Sent the file off today to the stencil maker. Everything checked out on their end, so hopefully I will end up with a stencil for both designs, just use the end that I am currently building.
I imagine that if you did this same process and made sure you defined your borders well, just about any PCB fab house will take it. I know that Gold Phoenix would take it. They would just charge you for the multi-design fee.
Look up gerbmerge.
Takes a while to get your head around it all, and I wouldn’t bother trying to use it on a non-linux environment, but it’s pretty nice once you get it working. I use it all the time for production panels.
I tried this tonight and Eagle won’t let me copy from the board. It says I have to do it from schematic.
rpcelectronics:
I don’t know if this will help, but just this week, I needed to get a kapton stencil made for two small designs (~3.5’x2’ each). I knew that each design would be placed on a seperate sheet of Kapton and I would end up paying for both ie. twice the price. I decided to give copy and pasting a shot.I created a new project in Eagle and called it “X Panel”. I then opened the first design, turned on ALL layers, did a group cut (actually copy). I closed the design, opened the panel project board up and did a paste. The design pasted, fully in tact, with all layers. I did the same with the second design and was able to paste it right next to the first. Both designs are the same board size, so it was easy to align them up nice.
I saved the board file, clicked ratsnest to make sure my copper pours were ok. I then ran the Gerber generation script to create new Gerbers with both designs on the panel. I checked the Gerbers in ViewMate and everything looked good.
Sent the file off today to the stencil maker. Everything checked out on their end, so hopefully I will end up with a stencil for both designs, just use the end that I am currently building.
I imagine that if you did this same process and made sure you defined your borders well, just about any PCB fab house will take it. I know that Gold Phoenix would take it. They would just charge you for the multi-design fee.
I used [gerbmerge, a Python script, to panelize one of my designs. It’s not particularly friendly, but anyone capable of designing a circuit and making gerber files in the first place should be able to figure it out without too much hassle. Apparently a recent version has added a preliminary support for a GUI - I haven’t tried it, though.](http://ruggedcircuits.com/gerbmerge/)
Eagle 6.5 indirectly supports panelizing. There is a youtube video showing how to do it.
Make a copy of the .brd
Open the copy in PCB editor (there is no associated sch)
Copy and Paste the desired elements.
Note, this isn’t EXACTLY what you had in mind as component numbers auto increment If you have 4 resistors, the copy now has R5…8. Oh well, don’t forget its FREE!
Why do you want to put them all together?
The PCB manufacturer will usually prefer them individually as they will MRC them etc individually.
If you want them placed in a specific way in a panel then make a panel drawing that shows the locations of the boards within the panel, draw it with figures/lines etc.
That way they get to do their MRC, etch compensation etc per board and then you get a panel in the way you require.