Homebrew PCBs

Hi,
   So you did a two sided board? Or one side of
the board got messed up?

                             John



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "ph4appl" <ph4appl@y...> wrote:
> John, I now know how you feel.
> I spent hours and hours drawing a board in TurboCAD only to find 
out 
> that when I milled the board, I had inverted one of the layers. So, 
> all of the holes and traces on the other side were off. So, it is a 
> pain. I agree. Hopefully this code we are working on will ease the 
> pain until one of the comercial packages can save in GCode.
> 
> Dave
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "crankorgan" <john@k...> wrote:
> > Hi Dave,
> >         I ment the guys who make Eagle or Target. Make a drawing
> > program that saves the pad outlines as Gcode or PLT. Running a 
post
> > processor is after the fact. You have to put up with all kinds of
> > garbage. I do beleive a program is comming! Lots of people talking
> > about milling circuit boards at the hobby level. I would even
> > go for a Gcode save in Turbocad at this point. I left out two
> > holes on my last circuit board. Now I have two or more hours
> > of work to fix it. Adding the holes is easy. Then I have to rotate
> > the drawing. Convert it to Gcode. Take out some junk. Add some
> > other stuff. Then center the Gcode, then offset it for the machine
> > I mill it on. All because I left two hole out. Now if I could draw
> > in GCode. We are talking minutes.  
> > 
> >                                         John 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., "ph4appl" <ph4appl@y...> wrote:
> > > Not easy by any stretch of the imagination. If anyone doesn't 
> > believe 
> > > me, take a look at 
> > > 
> > > http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/studentwork/CESCG99/SKrivograd/
> > > 
> > > This page describes some of the math involved with generating 
an 
> > > outline or tool path.
> > > 
> > > On a side note, I got ToolPathPro to compile this afternoon. I 
> ran 
> > a 
> > > sample DXF file through it and generated some rather 
interesting 
> > > GCodes. I'll have some pics on my website shortly. The good 
news 
> is 
> > > that Alan has inspired me to keep on working on this thing. It 
> can 
> > > currently handle direct DXF export from TraxMakerPro and 
convert 
> to 
> > > GCode. I still need to work on the optimization algorithm, and 
> > forsee 
> > > several weeks of coding, but it is in the works.
> > > 
> > > Dave
> > > 
> > > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> 
> wrote:
> > > > Hi John,
> > > > 
> > > > Well, I wouldn't say it's a "very simple program to write", 
> right 
> > > Dave? 
> > > > I've seen the three Gerber files from TCi.  Silk, component, 
and
> > > > solder.  Both component (green) and solder (red) have traces 
> and 
> > > pads. 
> > > > The silk (yellow) is component outline. 
> > > > I only saw a few random blue and red lines when I loaded a 
TCi 
> > > gerber
> > > > file into KCam.  I suspect I have an old version.  As long as 
I 
> > can
> > > > convert the files, I'll just run them through my 
own "process".
> > > >  
> > > > Hay!  If the cost is high, maybe I can sell an inexpensive 
> > converter
> > > > program!
> > > > 
> > > > Alan  KM6VV
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > crankorgan wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > Hi Alan,
> > > > >         TCI makes three Gerber files. One of them has the
> > > > > pads and traces. When I plot the Gerber I get lots of
> > > > > BLUE lines. Red is cut and blue is travel. When I see
> > > > > more BLUE than Red I quit. I like my machine to spend
> > > > > it's time cutting not traveling all over. Most program
> > > > > that do outlines of traces are bogus. There are several
> > > > > new ones coming out. Big money! A very simple program to 
> write. 
> > I
> > > > > think the cost is high because there are so few PCBMills in
> > > > > use. They are very expensive to buy. I got laughed at last
> > > > > year when I came out with my plans. Now there are several
> > > > > people with homemade PCBMills. Here is your chance to get
> > > > > in on the fun!
> > > > > 
> > > > >                                                  John
> > > > >