Hello there!

"pil" wrote in ...
I am trying to manufacture a PCB for the leach amp. I printed the PCB
layout
in the pdf file but it seems that two tracks are too close to each other.

I need to modify the PCB

How do I get the PCB out of the PDF file while keeping it a cad drawing. I
don't want to copy and paste cause then it gets turned into a photo.

The pcb in the pdf seems to be a postscript file

Maybe it's not the solution that helps you by now, but if anyone is
interested in doing pcb rapid prototyping with isolation engraving, these
screenshots may be quite impressive:
http://www.platincnc.com/temp/example.htm
I created a complete CAM dataset for drilling, isolation engraving and
contour milling of your pcb layout (I took it from the link posted by Spehro
Pefhany) with my application. It took me less than 15min, without employing
any other image manipulation program.

I did not announce this software broadly until now, but this is such a
typical application for it that I could not withstand ;-)

Best regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria
Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com

Hi Christian,

I looked over the information on your website, and as near as I can
tell, your tool doesn't take Gerber RS274X files as its input. Is
this true?

Does your program automatically figure out the milling paths, or is
this done manually?

Does your HPGL output format allow for use on machines that define
one step as 1/1000th inch, rather than 1/1016th inch?

Also, as near as I can tell, your demo won't allow any milling to be
done at all. I cannot tell anything about your output translation
accuracy unless I can mill.

-Chuck Harris



Christian Zinner wrote:
Hello there!

"pil" wrote in ...

I am trying to manufacture a PCB for the leach amp. I printed the PCB

layout

in the pdf file but it seems that two tracks are too close to each other.

I need to modify the PCB

How do I get the PCB out of the PDF file while keeping it a cad drawing. I
don't want to copy and paste cause then it gets turned into a photo.

The pcb in the pdf seems to be a postscript file


Maybe it's not the solution that helps you by now, but if anyone is
interested in doing pcb rapid prototyping with isolation engraving, these
screenshots may be quite impressive:
http://www.platincnc.com/temp/example.htm
I created a complete CAM dataset for drilling, isolation engraving and
contour milling of your pcb layout (I took it from the link posted by Spehro
Pefhany) with my application. It took me less than 15min, without employing
any other image manipulation program.

I did not announce this software broadly until now, but this is such a
typical application for it that I could not withstand ;-)

Best regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria
Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com

Hi!

"Chuck Harris" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Hi Christian,

I looked over the information on your website, and as near as I can
tell, your tool doesn't take Gerber RS274X files as its input. Is
this true?
It can take Gerber as input for drill import, but currently not for the
conduction tracks. As I see from some other feedback, I decide to add this
functionality very soon. I personally prefer postscript. Are there still so
many pcb layout programs out there that rely on gerber only?

Does your program automatically figure out the milling paths, or is
this done manually?
This is done automatically with the opportunity to define a set of up to 4
different engraver diameters which has the andvantage that the smallest
(=slowest, most expensive and least enduring) engraving tools are only used
where it is necessary. Some other neat features let you either remove any
surplus copper or widen the isolation gaps what makes soldering a lot
easier.
It should be mentioned that the drills were automatically extracted from the
pdf, too, including a useful suggestion for the drill diameters, although
the source image's drills were only intended as an aid for manual drilling.

Does your HPGL output format allow for use on machines that define
one step as 1/1000th inch, rather than 1/1016th inch?
This is user definable. G-Code format is heavily user adjustable, too.

Also, as near as I can tell, your demo won't allow any milling to be
done at all. I cannot tell anything about your output translation
accuracy unless I can mill.
You can export drill data with the demo, and if you use the 'emulate drills
with cutter' functionality, you can export milling paths for such drills,
too.
If you take the program seriously into account, you can send me a project
file that you prepared with the demo and I will provide you with the output
of the full version.

Best regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria

Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com

Christian Zinner wrote:
Hello there!
Maybe it's not the solution that helps you by now, but if anyone is
interested in doing pcb rapid prototyping with isolation engraving,
these
screenshots may be quite impressive:
http://www.platincnc.com/temp/example.htm
I created a complete CAM dataset for drilling, isolation engraving and
contour milling of your pcb layout (I took it from the link posted by
Spehro
Pefhany) with my application. It took me less than 15min, without
employing
any other image manipulation program.

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 10:41:48 +0200, "Christian Zinner"
wrote:

Hi!

"Chuck Harris" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Hi Christian,

I looked over the information on your website, and as near as I can
tell, your tool doesn't take Gerber RS274X files as its input. Is
this true?
It can take Gerber as input for drill import, but currently not for the
conduction tracks. As I see from some other feedback, I decide to add this
functionality very soon. I personally prefer postscript. Are there still so
many pcb layout programs out there that rely on gerber only?

Still? Most of them use Gerber274X




Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see:
Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs http://www3.sympatico.ca/borism/

Hi Christian,

I have never heard of a professional PC layout package that
didn't use Gerber RS274X, or D, as its standard output. It has
been more than 15 years since I have used a PC board house that
didn't expect Gerber RS-274X, or D, as its preferred input. Prior
to that, they wanted 1-to-1 film overlays. I have been making PCB's
for more than 20 years (back then, a Gerber photoplotter was really a
photoplotter!).

Certainly there are other formats available, but for the US,
market, Gerber RS274X is the standard for the board files,
and Excellon is the standard for the drill files.

If you are going to add Gerber to your package, and I think
that you must, download gerbv, and look at its gerber file
translation routines. The RS274X standard was written by idiots,
and as such has lots of room for conflicting interpretations.
The gerbv (a gnu project) programmers have done an excellent
job of making a universal parser for RS274X. It works on everything
that is out there.

G-Codes are only used for general purpose machine tools, such
as milling machines, lathes and punches.

A large number of the PCB mills and Vinyl cutters use a variant
of HPGL as their driver language. Some use 1/1000th inch as their
minimum step size, some follow the HP standard and use 1/1016th inch.

Some of the older PCB mills that use HPGL will get totally hosed
if you send more than 256 characters without a CRLF, so commands
like:

PDxxxx,yyyy,xxxx,yyyy,xxxx,yyyy,xxxx,yyyy,xxxx,yyy y,.......;

That extend for more than 256 characters without a ";" and
CRLF will crash the mill. It is always ok to send them out as:

PDxxxx,yyyy;
PDxxxx,yyyy;
PDxxxx,yyyy;
....
PDxxxx,yyyy;

Some of the older PCB mills will get totally hosed if you send
decimals in the inch mode:

PUxxxx.0123456789,yyyy.0123456789;

How do I know this? I have an old IBC-912, and it is one of
those mills.

I will look at your package. It sounds pretty good, but I have
a feeling that it is not yet ready for prime time.

Thanks,

-Chuck Harris

Christian Zinner wrote:
Hi!

"Chuck Harris" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

Hi Christian,

I looked over the information on your website, and as near as I can
tell, your tool doesn't take Gerber RS274X files as its input. Is
this true?

It can take Gerber as input for drill import, but currently not for the
conduction tracks. As I see from some other feedback, I decide to add this
functionality very soon. I personally prefer postscript. Are there still so
many pcb layout programs out there that rely on gerber only?


Does your program automatically figure out the milling paths, or is
this done manually?

This is done automatically with the opportunity to define a set of up to 4
different engraver diameters which has the andvantage that the smallest
(=slowest, most expensive and least enduring) engraving tools are only used
where it is necessary. Some other neat features let you either remove any
surplus copper or widen the isolation gaps what makes soldering a lot
easier.
It should be mentioned that the drills were automatically extracted from the
pdf, too, including a useful suggestion for the drill diameters, although
the source image's drills were only intended as an aid for manual drilling.


Does your HPGL output format allow for use on machines that define
one step as 1/1000th inch, rather than 1/1016th inch?

This is user definable. G-Code format is heavily user adjustable, too.

Also, as near as I can tell, your demo won't allow any milling to be
done at all. I cannot tell anything about your output translation
accuracy unless I can mill.

You can export drill data with the demo, and if you use the 'emulate drills
with cutter' functionality, you can export milling paths for such drills,
too.
If you take the program seriously into account, you can send me a project
file that you prepared with the demo and I will provide you with the output
of the full version.

Best regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria

Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com


Christian Zinner wrote:

Hello there!
Maybe it's not the solution that helps you by now, but if anyone is
interested in doing pcb rapid prototyping with isolation engraving,

these

screenshots may be quite impressive:
http://www.platincnc.com/temp/example.htm
I created a complete CAM dataset for drilling, isolation engraving and
contour milling of your pcb layout (I took it from the link posted by

Spehro

Pefhany) with my application. It took me less than 15min, without

employing

any other image manipulation program.

Hi!

Back from the weekend I found some reactions to my previous posting that
filled me with mixed emotions.
So please, let me make some things clear:

"Christian Zinner" wrote in
...
It can take Gerber as input for drill import, but currently not for the
conduction tracks. As I see from some other feedback, I decide to add this
functionality very soon. I personally prefer postscript. Are there still
so
many pcb layout programs out there that rely on gerber only?

I think that the last sentence lead to a total misunderstanding. I must
state here, that english is not my first language and this may be the reason
for that.
It is clear for me that almost every pcb layout software supports gerber
output. My question was if there are still many of them that don't offer
*any other* output file format.
For example, if a CAD system supports printing of layouts to a printer under
windows, you can select a postscript printer driver of your choice, print
into a file and it should be no problem to interface to PlatinCnc.
And, as I said already, I plan to add a gerber import filter into the
application soon.

Generally I know what I'm talking about, so please let's keep peace.
I'm grateful for any constructive comment, I think that's for what such
newsgroups are for.

Regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria

Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com

Hi!

Back from the weekend I found some reactions to my previous posting that
filled me with mixed emotions.
So please, let me make some things clear:

"Christian Zinner" wrote in
...
It can take Gerber as input for drill import, but currently not for the
conduction tracks. As I see from some other feedback, I decide to add this
functionality very soon. I personally prefer postscript. Are there still
so
many pcb layout programs out there that rely on gerber only?

I think that the last sentence lead to a total misunderstanding. I must
state here, that english is not my first language and this may be the reason
for that.
It is clear for me that almost every pcb layout software supports gerber
output. My question was if there are still many of them that don't offer
*any other* output file format.
For example, if a CAD system supports printing of layouts to a printer under
windows, you can select a postscript printer driver of your choice, print
into a file and it should be no problem to interface to PlatinCnc.
And, as I said already, I plan to add a gerber import filter into the
application soon.

Generally I know what I'm talking about, so please let's keep peace.
I'm grateful for any constructive comment, I think that's for what such
newsgroups are for.

Regards,
--
Christian Zinner
Vienna, Austria

Email:
Web: http://www.PlatinCnc.com