CAM file types

On 3/19/2010 7:41 PM, Chuck Huber wrote:

On 03/19/2010 03:59 PM, John Bachman wrote:

I am a bit confused by the file types created by CAM.  I am using

GERBER_RS274X_25 as recommended by my board house.  If I specify the top

copper (2 layer board) and a NAME I get two files NAME and NAME.gpi.

 

The board house says that Eagle should output a file NAME.cmp for this.

  All the other layers do similar.

 

Are there not standard file names that Eagle generates for the different

layers?

 

I've never heard of a standard file naming scheme.  But to make things

clear, I always embed the name of the layer in the file name.

 

NAME-RevA-TopScreen.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopMask.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopPaste.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopCopper.gbr

NAME-RevA-Inner1.gbr

...

 

Of course, I'll substitute the NAME with the actual part number of the

board.  In our house, it's usually a 6-digit number.

 

That way there's no ambiguity at all as to which gerber file describes

which layer.

 

As for creating the job itself, I usually copy the .cam file from some

other project, and do a global search-and-replace on the old name and

revision.  Then I load it into the CAM processor and run from there.

This seems to be a lot easier than manually editing each section from

the GUI interface.

 

I have also added a section to each CAM file that various internal shell

scripts external to Eagle understand.  Eagle conveniently ignores these

"extended" sections when loading the .cam file.

 

Oddly enough, the .cam file has a structure similar to Winbloze's .ini

file.  It'd be nice if they went to an XML or even a properties file

format that could be easily read by Java.  Perhaps that's something I

should post to the suggestion forum.

 

Enjoy,

     - Chuck

Thanks for the reply.

I dug into the manual a bit more and got even more confused.  Pages 272

and 273 list the file names and extensions that running Gerber274x

supposedly produces:

          %Name.cmp

          %Name.sol

          %Name.plc

          %Name.stc

          %Name.sts

When I run it I get the file name that I entered into that block and a

Name.gpi file and nothing more.

--

John Bachman, W1JGB

AnaTek Corporation

On 3/19/2010 7:41 PM, Chuck Huber wrote:

On 03/19/2010 03:59 PM, John Bachman wrote:

I am a bit confused by the file types created by CAM.  I am using

GERBER_RS274X_25 as recommended by my board house.  If I specify the top

copper (2 layer board) and a NAME I get two files NAME and NAME.gpi.

 

The board house says that Eagle should output a file NAME.cmp for this.

  All the other layers do similar.

 

Are there not standard file names that Eagle generates for the different

layers?

 

I've never heard of a standard file naming scheme.  But to make things

clear, I always embed the name of the layer in the file name.

 

NAME-RevA-TopScreen.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopMask.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopPaste.gbr

NAME-RevA-TopCopper.gbr

NAME-RevA-Inner1.gbr

...

 

Of course, I'll substitute the NAME with the actual part number of the

board.  In our house, it's usually a 6-digit number.

 

That way there's no ambiguity at all as to which gerber file describes

which layer.

 

As for creating the job itself, I usually copy the .cam file from some

other project, and do a global search-and-replace on the old name and

revision.  Then I load it into the CAM processor and run from there.

This seems to be a lot easier than manually editing each section from

the GUI interface.

 

I have also added a section to each CAM file that various internal shell

scripts external to Eagle understand.  Eagle conveniently ignores these

"extended" sections when loading the .cam file.

 

Oddly enough, the .cam file has a structure similar to Winbloze's .ini

file.  It'd be nice if they went to an XML or even a properties file

format that could be easily read by Java.  Perhaps that's something I

should post to the suggestion forum.

 

Enjoy,

     - Chuck

Thanks for the reply.

I dug into the manual a bit more and got even more confused.  Pages 272

and 273 list the file names and extensions that running Gerber274x

supposedly produces:

          %Name.cmp

          %Name.sol

          %Name.plc

          %Name.stc

          %Name.sts

When I run it I get the file name that I entered into that block and a

Name.gpi file and nothing more.

--

John Bachman, W1JGB

AnaTek Corporation