Have a question about CadSoft EAGLE?  Ask our Expert, Richard! (Archive)

Hopefully a simple question..... I'm not a very frequent user, so I can't say for sure if this is new behaviour or what.  Previously (well before the latest 5.11.0 update) I used the drill-aid.ulp to create drill-locator holes on my PCB.  I use blue press-n-peel paper on home made PCBs, so this is actually pretty important

I have a CAM job that exports a postscript file, and I use GhostScript to open and print the file.

When I look at the PCB, I can see the drill aid layer 116 with what appears to be the correct fill.  When I went to do this with my latest board, the postscript file has regular size holes in the pads - so I checked my CAM job and confirmed that 116 was selected, but it doesn't seem to have come through to the output.

Has anyone seen this kind of behaviour?  Any thoughts on how I might get my CAM job working fine again?

Hi,

besides of the drill-aid.ulp you need a modified PS device for the CAM Processor. Please add to the file eagle.def the following:

[EPS-Drillaid]

@EPS
Long     = "Postscript with max hole size in pads/etc, ala drill-aid.ulp"

Header3  = "%% redefine our /h function with a fixed diameter\n"\
           "/h {  %% draw a hole\n"\
           "   /d  exch def\n  %% Still need to pop diam off stack\n"\
           "   d 5000 gt {\n"\
           "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\
           "   } if\n"\
           "   /y  exch def\n"\
           "   /x  exch def\n"\
           "   d 0 gt {\n"\
           "     newpath\n"\
           "     x EU y EU d 2 div EU 0 360 arc\n"\
           "     currentgray dup\n"\
           "     1 exch sub setgray\n"\
           "     fill\n"\
           "     setgray\n"\
           "     } if\n"\
           "   } def\n"\
           "%% The drawing\n"

[PS-Drillaid]

@PS
Long     = "Postscript (printable) with max hold size ala Drill-aid.ulp"

Header2  = "%% redefine our /h function with a fixed diameter\n"\
           "/h {  %% draw a hole\n"\
           "   /d  exch def\n  %% Still need to pop diam off stack\n"\
           "   d 5000 gt {\n"\
           "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\
           "   } if\n"\
           "   /y  exch def\n"\
           "   /x  exch def\n"\
           "   d 0 gt {\n"\
           "     newpath\n"\
           "     x EU y EU d 2 div EU 0 360 arc\n"\
           "     currentgray dup\n"\
           "     1 exch sub setgray\n"\
           "     fill\n"\
           "     setgray\n"\
           "     } if\n"\
           "   } def\n"\
           "%% Remainder of Header2 copied from define for PS device\n"\
           "%% the real drawing size:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/MinDrawX %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MinDrawY %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MaxDrawX %6d EU def\n"\
           "/MaxDrawY %6d EU def\n"\
           "\n"\
           "%% the usable page size:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/LeftMargin 0.25 inch def  %% change these if drawing gets clipped!\n"\
           "/BotMargin  0.25 inch def\n"\
           "/PageWidth  %7.4f inch def\n"\
           "/PageHeight %7.4f inch def\n"\
           "\n"\
           "%% are we going to rotate?:\n"\
           "\n"\
           "/RotateDrawing %d 0 ne def\n"\
           "\n"
           ;(x1, y1, x2, y2, Width, Height, DoRotate)

Now it should work as expected.

Regards,

Richard

Thanks Richard, perfect.  I added these to the DEF file, changed my CAM job to use the modified driver, and my output PS file now has the drill holes.  Does this negate the need to use the drill-aid?  I tested it out and it seems that even after I've taken the drill layer 116 off, I get the modified holes. Is there a way (or a need??) to specify the drill hole equivalent that the drill-aid script did?

Hi,

drill-aid.ulp is no longer neccessary. The EPS device draws the pads with a defined hole diameter. IMHO the line

   "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\

defines the diameter of the opening in the pad.

Regards,

Richard

Hi,

drill-aid.ulp is no longer neccessary. The EPS device draws the pads with a defined hole diameter. IMHO the line

   "      /d  5000 def\n  %% But override it to 0.5mm\n"\

defines the diameter of the opening in the pad.

Regards,

Richard