Re: Eagle drill-files (was: faster steppers)

Hi Henrik,

Yes, from what you've shown me, that Excellon file would not take much
to convert to decimal inches, or MM's for that matter for a controller.
I don't recall, but Vector CAD/CAM might be able to import it as-is, and
export in another format.

I did a quick program for someone to parse Gcode files, change MM to
inch (or was it the other way around), and output the Gcode. So that's
no big chore! What I am interested in is "outlining" the traces, so
that a Sherline or other small mill could cut traces in PC board. The
algorithm for "outlining" a trace is the tough part. Vector seems to be
able to do this to a limited extent, but would take a fair amount of
work on a board with several hundred traces! A program is available for
about $300. More fun might be had in figuring it out myself (yeah, I
need more projects!).

Thanks for the offer of help!

Alan KM6VV


Henrik Olsson wrote:

>
> Alan,
>
> > Stepster understands .DRD (Excellon?) files?
>
> No, not direct. You have to edit the .drd the way I wrote in my last
> message. That is adding the G81 command. Then you have to setup Stepster (or
> whatever program you like, KellyCAM, EMC, etc etc)so it reads the file in
> mils and not in inches (or mm in my case) OR you could convert the .drd file
> so that the X&Y cordinates reads in inches.
>
> This is the beginning of a .drd file that I ran i Stepster yesterday, works
> perfect.
> The only thing I do is add the G81 with its Z, R & F commands.
> %
> T01
> G81 X385 Y488 Z-130 R30 F75
> X285Y488
> X185Y488
> X185Y588
> X285Y588
> X385Y588
> X385Y688
> X285Y688
> X185Y688
> X185Y788
>
> As you can see, the X&Y cordinates are not in inches thats why you have to
> edit either the the .drd file itself or the movement-per-step-setting in
> your controler.
> I don't know about EMC but atleast in Stepster you dont need any
> linenumbers. It's pretty easy to generate the .drd file and make the changes
> and it goes a heck of a lot faster to drill it with CNC than to do it by
> hand. I haven't tried to get the data out to mill the traces. It would be
> nice to be able to do it, but I don't think my machine is up to it (I need
> to build a floating engraving head) so I stick with etching and just do the
> drilling with CNC.
>
> > I haven't figured out anything in Eagle yet, other then viewing and
> > printing, but I was told it could do Gcode. Now where did I put the
> > manual I just printed out?
>
> I'm not even near knowing all the functions in Eagle but I know some. So if
> you have any questions I'll be glad to help, if I can.
>
> /Henrik Olsson.