X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Message-ID: <53C68D9F.8060304@hagertechnologies.com> Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 10:35:11 -0400 From: "Geoffrey Yerem - HEAT, LLC" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Subject: Re: [geda-user] Gerber Export Generates Abitrary Drill Tool Numbers References: <53C56517 DOT 2030901 AT hagertechnologies DOT com> <20140716080241 DOT GA9087 AT visitor2 DOT iram DOT es> In-Reply-To: <20140716080241.GA9087@visitor2.iram.es> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Filter-ID: XtLePq6GTMn8G68F0EmQvUmBXJzwuioInx65PKv4DQuInA5Vn4KH4padNutNVSwEIkjA6TxC7VVG Rdtnu9i6xALYm1uAgbIOr4bmKGTeU32jhRJZ9b1ugp7UscNzxNGX1xUm92sTYL9JznlycpfHe6Dk enGqkth5J7RBZIhPNgAICO5M9RCE+4YM8Gg0Lr5BypYHWz6TAuOwAK61sk1xfGjJjNkzHoNcXG7b NuUGsP4SUeKU45Ncas9jNFsHkp/Hua7GkLRLfLlO2XidRifai5XRyPnevCGVpb0V+CN17+HmDxq0 SdmuGEEeefkh+maZfqb5R4VemuUI6bcEARsm0PNAIyk9ntkz/aNp2N2B2Me9OZIFUIj/UuNrPzTp PaYGiwQzKw+6v3CaIMG6s7LqJIBWoFOd6gt2HUdiZ7t11dlf4SRhQbWF+wWHgZZSuqpcsl9fPdwH 80HrMXabyjDzwF3/D3IV0NRhktR1tssxb9hUPiwTdMqaQlM+1IlqqfSXnQlroi91L3+jl9ax7fh/ Lg6nrIFupAUoH+y0SRI0EGSWr+VBZ82YEgeo0/prucXfGplHcpVCCoX989hgB8R+yCM7Cry1nKMs YuYOZdBRIIc6lx/bUC9w6ySkL0AhNq5Fj2GyU2kZgVuT4VOryl4cQKnSUMDRknuUcg8QWIlRhjo= X-Report-Abuse-To: spam AT spamx1 DOT webair DOT com X-Filter-Fingerprint: cPaH8lomer6UwsJ3BnJDyts/W+OagfBsRYjpo1vNhucs+ZKuCcw7v0rQvyFHLrHLLLP4zKje16Dd xlyFgEYl8iY1Pl950J13QoPscT3ZgkBwhZK2Lc022iOy9CrCj/xe2xt/qllj+I8nacVaN9s52/mc Pw6KcxTpccdyHlfxC+xOzdzx8idALKJh7FZ60Z5q8YLw1515dQnoAmzGGzVPczE2gg6XortaZ/IJ FfD2JrkYfFt8SB50MPa2esQuT7hwGFjVu+ujXvehZbfN9InsK7ytufBRInTkSkdjyB3uNZYUx7wl B9kr7xpREYFqNa6TiCHzllfnwvYGkv30LZ943NMra5CWac83neaFgnSIBreooVINItElkBd+n9kN KIqN2piHACgxZsS3T/CsYQElpUO+II9ad9cM53oMVZ/YyaJBpIJThzmsdRVSrhpQiqvmBHVcXoJ2 SL8MS8oJXMYYvzEvuGslKTrRIXcXpFg5ivY= X-Originating-IP: 216.130.191.237 X-SpamExperts-Domain: webair.net X-SpamExperts-Username: 216.130.191.237 Authentication-Results: webair.com; auth=pass smtp.auth=216.130.191.237 X-SpamExperts-Outgoing-Class: ham X-SpamExperts-Outgoing-Evidence: Combined (0.22) X-Recommended-Action: accept Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Hello, >> I'm having a small problem with the Gerber export in PCB. When it >> generates the cnc drill file, it starts the tool numbers at an >> arbitrary count. > > Not exactly an aribtrary count, it uses the same number space for Gerber > apertures and drill numbers. That's what I suspected. I have little knowledge of the Gerber format. >> This normally isn't a problem when I'm viewing the gerbers in >> gerbv, but my fab house is complaining that they can't handle tool >> numbers greater than 255. > > So the current PCB system breaks your fab process. Here's a quote from them: "The NC Drill file that was sent in for this order contained tool sizes labeled over 255, although only 7 sizes were used. Upon loading the drill file into the software all the tool sizes were ignored." This only happens on my more complicated designs. This particular design was a four-layer board, but it only had 7 drill sizes. > Apply the following patch and recompile: I've been compiling PCB from source on Cygwin, but support for GTK+ broke recently and I'm relying on the ElektronIQ builds now. >> I think we deliberately don't re-use numbers between the various >> files we export. This allows people to copy+paste outline / random >> notes layer content in the output file into the files for other >> layers - without any apperture clashes / conflicts. > > I have to disagree for __drill__ numbers. I can understand it for > aperture which go into Gerber files (since I sometimes edit them > by hand myself). But drill numbers are not even in the same file > format as apertures and are not processed by the same machine, so > having independent number spaces does not hurt (and you obviously > can't play copy/paste games between Excellon and Gerber files). If you're going to use the same number space for everything, would it make sense to prioritize the drill numbers so they start at 1 and everything else follows? Sometimes a little defensive programming pays off. I guess it would help to know how other layout tools handle this issue. Again, I'm not an expert here, just a user. Speaking as a user, let me mention that I've been using geda for over five years now and I really love the quality of boards I can make with it! Geoffrey