P*otel DXP nc drill file generation

[psmeets]

Hi,

1) When I want to export my Pr*tel D\X\P file to gerber and an NC drill file then sometimes the output is not readable in an independent gerber viewer like Gerbview, only in Camtastic - which is an Altium product.

2) When I change the layers to be exported then sometimes the old layers still can be seen when the C*mtastic file is generated. Is this a bug or do I do something wrong?

Is there a way to convert the Pr*tel format so real gerber and real excellon is exported? I hope somebody can help me, I am stuck for 2 weeks now.

Thanks everybody!

 

[House_Cat]

DXP outputs a standard Gerber format. There is no conversion necessary. If you can't read the files with other viewers, you are doing something wrong.

Are you producing RS274X or RS274D files? If you are making RS274D files, you need to have an apeture file with them or you can't read them properly into any Gerber viewer. RS274X has the apetures imbedded, so you don't need the extra file.

You use the term "export" when talking about Gerbers. DXP has a menu item "Fabrication Outputs>Gerber Files" that allows you to set the layers and various output parameters. Are you sure you set up the output properly?

The nc drill file is output in two different formats by DXP. One is a binary Excellon file, the other is a text file. Use the text file - virtually nobody uses the binary version.

Gerbview has difficulty with some flash apetures in any Gerber file. You may want to try Viewmate, CAM350, Gerbtool, etc. There are a bunch of viewers out there. Viewmate is free at:

h**p://www.pentalogix.com/Download/download.html

(*=t)