I am trying to order my first PBC and have spent the last two hours trying to get the gerber files to work. I have read everything I can but I have no clue what I am doing. I got everything to work besides the drill file.
I read about changing the zeros, editing eagle.def, changing the options in ViewMate, and changing something to 2:3 but I have no idea how to do any of these or what they mean.
I’d appreciate any help.
Did you edit your .def file, change the options in viewmate, and load everything to see what you’ve got?
You’re not giving us much information to go on, perhaps some specifics would help:
Which version of eagle are you using?
Why do you think there is a problem?
What happens when you run viewmate?
If you really have no clue what your doing, then perhaps this isn’t the best place to look for circuit boards – the pooling service is really designed for those that know what they’re doing.
That being said, let’s try to get your problems understood and fixed.
armoredcars:
I’d appreciate any help.
Armoredcars,
It’s certainly a challenge. I’ve ordered 3 boards, and even though they all turned out, the drill file was always daunting. AFAIK, no amount of work on Eagle will produce the correct drill file; but there are steps you should take to make life easy for you and sparky:
If you are using the latest version of Eagle, edit the file eagle.def per one of my previous posts.
Download and install viewmate and keep working with it until you can consistently line up your holes and pads.
When you place your order and send your files, tell SFE that the drill file was created with Eagle and that you have set it as close as possible to the requested format.
On a tangential note, here is some unsolicited advice on hole sizes. On all three of my boards, I got the schematic right and the hole sizes wrong. Don’t trust the parts in the library to have the right hole sizes. For example, if you want to insert some 0.1" headers, make sure the hole size is large enough; otherwise you end up drilling out the holes which ends up drilling out the plating, which is a mess.
Hope that helps,
Jake
Yeah, I was pretty frusterated this morning.
I am not sure where the .def file is, I looked through the folders in Eagle and it wasn’t there. I looked at the options in Viewmate but it didn’t have what I read I was supposed to change. (I read I was supposed to change a 3.4 to a 2.3, I couldn’t even find a place that would let me enter a 2.3…)
I got the gerber files and everything worked in Viewmate except the drill file. A pop up would come up and none of the holes or the outline of the board would be there but the rest of it would show up.
I can’t remember what the popup said or what version I am using because I’m at home right now. Tomorrow morning I’ll be able to tell you more.
Its not that I have no clue what I’m doing at all, I have just been running in circles trying to find how to fix this .drd file and not finding anything that previous posts say to change. In that aspect, yes, I do know nothing.
jake, you beat me to my post.
One question I do have though, where is this eagle.def file?
My .def files are in C:\Program Files\EAGLE-4.11\bin
Also, take a look at one of my recent posts, it talks about modifying the .def file to create the correct output format. I put this line in there:
Drill = “X%05.0fY%05.0f\n” ; (x, y)
and it appears to have done the trick to get the correct leading/trailing format
It’s kinda hard to tell, though, because sometimes sparkfun tells you that you have a problem with your files, and sometimes they just silently fix them.
Try messing w/ the options in your gerber viewer. WHen the hole patterns match up, you’ll be able to check the configuration options to see which format your data is in. That was the key to getting my own files correct.
Alright, I’m back at school.
Eagle is version 4.15, Viewmate is 9.2.41.
I’m going to mess around with is some more and see what happens.
Also just wanted to check and make sure it was ok that everytime I import the gerber files everything is a different color.
Inserting
Drill = “X%05.0fY%05.0f\n” ; (x, y)
in the eagle.def file does not fix it. Is there a certial location I need to put it?
The message that comes up is a sytax error and it has a long list X and Y coordinates. Sometimes there is five numbers following each letter, sometimes four. At the beginning is a T?01 if this helps.
I got it to this
%
M48
M72
T01C0.0360
T02C0.0472
%
T01
X00833Y01358
X00833Y01858
T02
X00158Y00158
X00158Y00358
X00158Y00558
X00158Y00758
X00158Y00958
X00158Y01158
X00158Y01358
X00158Y01558
X00158Y01758
X00158Y01958
X00283Y02083
X00408Y02083
X00533Y02083
X00558Y02358
X00358Y02358
X00158Y02358
X00158Y02158
X00758Y02358
X00958Y02358
X01158Y02358
X01358Y02358
X01558Y02358
X01758Y02358
X01958Y02358
X02158Y02358
X02358Y02358
X02358Y02158
X02358Y01958
X02358Y01758
X02358Y01558
X02358Y01358
X02358Y01158
X02358Y00958
X02358Y00758
X02358Y00558
X02358Y00358
X02358Y00158
X02158Y00158
X01958Y00158
X01758Y00158
X01558Y00158
X01358Y00158
X01158Y00158
X00958Y00158
X00758Y00158
X00558Y00158
X00358Y00158
X00858Y01083
X00858Y01183
X00858Y01283
X01024Y01418
X01024Y01635
X00633Y01533
X00633Y01433
X00633Y01333
X00633Y01233
X01283Y00983
X01458Y01158
M30
Two before decimal, three after. It still says syntax error.
I think I got the drill file to work but shouldn’t it have the outline of the board on it?
Drill files don’t have board outlines, just XY coords and size of each hole.
I can’t tell by looking at your drill file if it’s right or not, but if it imports correctly with the viewmate settings set to what SparkFun expects, then I’d say you’re in business!
See my post of 09 May 2005 in [[this thread](http://www.sparkfun.com/cgi-bin/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=748&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15).armoredcars:
I looked at the options in Viewmate but it didn’t have what I read I was supposed to change. (I read I was supposed to change a 3.4 to a 2.3, I couldn’t even find a place that would let me enter a 2.3…)
Don](http://www.sparkfun.com/cgi-bin/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=748&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15)
Ok, my drill file is working but how do you set the border?
I always put mine on the top silkscreen layer. I have done some boarders that were odd shapes, they all turned out fine for me.