Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Help: PCB Trace Milling Software

Hi Mike and the list,

Yes, I was just asking about cutting PCB's with CNC. Seems that if you
could identify each "trace" as an object, you could develop contours
"around" each trace, and then "cut" each contour, which would make each
trace an island.

So how do we get from Gerber files to CNC files? As you observe, the
Gerber "plots" each trace, what we want is contours AROUND the traces!
I examined an HPGL PCB plot file (see View Companion), and studied how
multiple pen lines were combined to draw a trace. If the pen lines
could be combined and handled like little objects... If they could be
import into Vector... I could generate offsets around them. Humm (brain
working)...

Any thoughts? Jon, can you shed more light on the Gerber files and how
they do the traces?

Alan

>
>Bernard,
>
>try View Companion:
>
> "Support" <support@...>
>
> http://www.softwarecompanions.com/viewcomp.html
>
>You can manipulate layers, optimize, other outputs. Sounds like an
>interesting piece of software. Where did you find it? I've wished I
>had a program that could take the HPGL plots of printed circuit boards,
>and generate gcode to allow me to "cut" a printed circuit board proto.
>Yes they have hardware/software to do it, but I don't have 7K to "play"
>with it. LPKF is one such site:
>
> http://www.lpkf.de/home_us.htm
>
>I know, should be a simple software program!.
>
>Alan
>

brycebernard@... wrote:

>
> Hello all,
> I am currnetly using a piece of software from Lewetz in Germany which
> takes a HPGL file and sends step an direction signals to Paralell
> port.
>
> In Corel draw I generate a drawing in 3 colours, assign the colours
> to 3 pens and export it to HPGL.
>

Mike wrote:

>
> Thanks for everyone's help on CNC Software. Here's more of a niche
> question for the group... Does anyone know of available software that will
> convert standard Gerber (RS-274X) photo plot files you get out of printed
> circuit board CAD software into G-Code for mechanical PCB trace milling?
>
> It's a complex issue as the Gerber file (I believe) specifies an aperture,
> start and end location for the piece of copper you want. The apertures
> were originally selected from a wheel and light was directed onto a
> photosensitive material to "plot" the trace. For a milled PCB, however,
> you want to remove copper alongside the desired trace to isolate it from
> the other traces. So in effect, the G-Code needs to cut away the copper
> you don't want, leaving the traces you do as "islands".
>
> There are some very expensive turn-key systems out there doing this stuff,
> but I'm not aware of anyone who has it working at the hobbyist
> level. Those who are making PCB's on a CNC mill or engraver, just draw the
> entire PCB with isolation tracks by hand in regular CAD software. For a
> very simple board, that's reasonable, but for anything more complex, it's a
> nightmare in comparison to using a PCB CAD package that works directly from
> the electrical schematic and does automatic trace routing.
>
> Any help or even possible suggestions would really be appreciated!
>
> Mike
>
>
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