"Warning: More than one signal layer active!" when running a CAM job on  *.brd file

Actually one more question.  I ran the CAM job, I don't see the *.drd file,

the drill file, generated.  I see the *.dri file generated.  Is that the

drill file?

Thanks

"AL" <unbonnevie@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:hkm0q0$5n9$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

Time to stop relying on sparkfun and learn how to make CAM jobs. A CAM

job generates a series of files that are printed onto the board through

complicated processes to form the the traces, holes, vias, soldermasks

and silkscreen legends.

Each "Gerber" must represent one and only one process. So the top and

bottom trace layers are separate processes because they are printed on

separate sides of the board. My guess is that the CAM job you used

included both Top and Bottom layers in one output file, leading to the

warning. Normally, the component side gerber contains the top copper

layer, pads layer and via layer. That is, anyplace you want to have

copper on top of the board. The solder side gerber is the same except

traces come from the bottom eagle layer. It's up to you what to put into

the silk layers, usually tplace and tnames but you may want others, make

sure all fonts in this layer are vector font or you will get a nasty

surprise. The stop gerbers for soldermask are made the tStop and bStop

layers usually.

Most board houses do not want the bottom layer mirrored.

By looking at the gerber files individually on a gerber viewer, you can

often spot problems such as mirrored layers, offsets, inversions,

scaling errors, wrong size holes, offset holes or missing layers. You

can also output the gerbers to a printer and hold them up to the light

to make sure they are what you need. What you see is what you get, if it

looks wrong, it probably is wrong. There are ULP's to assist with this

process.

Another nice alternative for the hobbyist/noob is to just use a board

house that will accept the eagle .brd file and skip the gerber process

entirely. That's how I do it, had great luck so far with Beta Layout.

Gary Gofstein wrote on Mon, 08 February 2010 19:32

Another nice alternative for the hobbyist/noob is to just use a board

house that will accept the eagle .brd file and skip the gerber process

 

entirely.

Some board houses do accept Eagle BRD files, but this is not a good

solution.  It will severly limit the board houses available to you, and it

leaves questions open as to what layers you really want (and will pay for),

what exactly will be shown on the silkscreen, etc.

The CAM processor in Eagle is not that hard to use.  Take the extra hour to

read the documentation and follow the process once.  Then you'll have a

better understanding what is going on and a whole world of possible places

to get your boards done.

--

Browser access to CadSoft Support Forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca

Gary Gofstein wrote on Mon, 08 February 2010 19:32

Another nice alternative for the hobbyist/noob is to just use a board

house that will accept the eagle .brd file and skip the gerber process

 

entirely.

Some board houses do accept Eagle BRD files, but this is not a good

solution.  It will severly limit the board houses available to you, and it

leaves questions open as to what layers you really want (and will pay for),

what exactly will be shown on the silkscreen, etc.

The CAM processor in Eagle is not that hard to use.  Take the extra hour to

read the documentation and follow the process once.  Then you'll have a

better understanding what is going on and a whole world of possible places

to get your boards done.

--

Browser access to CadSoft Support Forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca