Eagle CAM Processor and Vias

Question

Hello,

I am working on a 2-layer PCB design which uses devices with
pads on the top layer that connect to pads (edge card fingers) on the bottom
layer. According to the book I have (Make Your
Own PCBs with EAGLE: From Schematic Designs to Finished Boards), the VIA
command is something to avoid. Mr. Monk says that just making the connections
between layers (as I have done) should cause Vias to be created automatically.
However, after running the CAM processor, I see no drill file as I would expect.

Am I missing something?

Thank you very much in advance!

rachaelp · Answer

Hello Troy, Just for completeness can you confirm what version of EAGLE are you running? However, the problem is likely because the generation of drill files is by a separate CAM process which isn't included as part of the default CAM jobs. You will need to load the job called excellon.cam and run that and it will create your drills file. In my setup I have combined the Excelllon drill job into my main CAM's so I don't have to run two separate jobs. I'm not entirely sure why anybody would want them separate. They have changed the CAM processor in 8.6.0 and the drill generation is included in the sample template CAM jobs. Best Regards, Rachael

rachaelp · Answer

Hi Troy,

I'd recommend you move up to the latest version of EAGLE as there are lots of improvements in 8.4 (integrated SPICE, Live DRC, Flip board view), 8.5 (Push and Shove routing), and 8.6 (New CAM processor and Manufacturing flyoff) so the update is definitely worthwhile. The new CAM processor will deal with things a little differently, there are YouTube tutorials on the Autodesk EAGLE channel which will explain what's changed, but the outputs are much more efficient and use proper polygons rather than raster fills for polygons so it's a much faster export. If you stick with your current version or go for a version earlier than 8.6 then the excellon.cam file is in the %EAGLEDIR/cam folder which is part of the installation.

Best Regards,

Rachael