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 Manufacturing Outputs
 Gerber File Output - Plotting Section
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shadders

United Kingdom
224 Posts

Posted - 21 Sep 2010 :  19:59:34  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

Yet another novice question - relating to the Plotting Area of the Gerber Setup.

I have a board which is 280mm x 260mm.

Does the Plotting Area have to indicate the exact board size, or can it be slighly larger than the board size, or if much larger than the plotting area, will there be a loss of resolution or detail in the data to plot the board detail ?.

Thanks and regards,

Richard.

Iain Wilkie

United Kingdom
1015 Posts

Posted - 21 Sep 2010 :  22:44:44  Show Profile  Visit Iain Wilkie's Homepage  Reply with Quote
No it doesn't need to dictate the size of your board .... so long as the board is smaller.

I have never ever changed the default value
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shadders

United Kingdom
224 Posts

Posted - 22 Sep 2010 :  05:09:03  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks Iain.
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DavidM

United Kingdom
458 Posts

Posted - 22 Sep 2010 :  09:05:14  Show Profile  Visit DavidM's Homepage  Reply with Quote
This value indicates the size of the plotter 'table', the maximum size of board/panel that you can fit on the plotter. I suspect that the default value of 36 inches is probably way bigger than any board you would be likely to make anyway.
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shadders

United Kingdom
224 Posts

Posted - 11 Oct 2010 :  18:36:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi David,

Thanks.

On this topic - just searched the internet a bit - does the 2.5 or 3.5 format relate to the number of integers and decimal places in the file ?.

If i am using mm as my base grid size, i assume that output of gerger files will also be in mm - i recall a selection in the manufacturing output stating use inches or mm ?.

As such if 2.3 format is used, and the fill size is 150mm x 100mm, then will there be an error ?.

Thanks and regards,

Richard.
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Peter Johnson

United Kingdom
498 Posts

Posted - 12 Oct 2010 :  16:51:39  Show Profile  Visit Peter Johnson's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Whether it's inches or mm is determined by a check box in the Gerber setup (and the drill setup for Excellon files). It DOESN'T take the units from the design.

If you're using metric, and only have two integers, anything over 99 mm will lose the first integer, so it will wrap round to the start of the board. You won't get a warning. As leading zeros are suppressed, there's nothing to be lost by using 3 integers for metric files.
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shadders

United Kingdom
224 Posts

Posted - 12 Oct 2010 :  17:35:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi Peter,

Thanks.

Perhaps the default should be 3.3 or 3.5 for both mm and inches - was not aware of the wrap around. Or a warning to the user that this is he case.

Reason for this suggestion is that i was not aware, and the internet does not provide simple information for a simple person like myself.

Thanks and regards,

Richard.

Edited by - shadders on 12 Oct 2010 17:39:00
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