Can anyone recommend any good software for producing Gerbrfiles for producing a PCB of my prototype?

Are they hard to produce using the software if ive never done it before.

Thanks

Justin_t

 

What you want is a PCB layout program. There are several ways to go.

If the PCB house you are using has one of their own you may want to use it.

The most powerful FREE program I know of is called Eagle from www.cadsoft.de. It includes a schematic capture tool. You draw the schematic first with the schematic editor and then the board with the board editor. The advantage to this is that it makes sure the schematic and board agree. Eagle is a bit harder to learn. To learn to use it you need to work the tutorials. Several of us use it and like it.

Sprint-Layout is said to be a top program for doing layout without schematic capture. It is inexpensive but not free.

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Hi justin t,

why go the most expensive way making a prototype board? A Gerber file can only be useful using a Gerber photoplotter too. They range from 2.000 to 20.000US$. Having the plot there are many more steps to go to achieve the final PCB.

With Eagle you can print (best laser on transpararenies) the layout without any distortion. If the board has to be double sided print the top layer and buttom layer separately omitting the component layer. Make sure to print always on the side of the transpararency which will have direct contact with toner and the PCB UV sensitive layer for minimum stray exposure. Even a thickness of 0.1mm causes overexposure on the PCB by refraction and reflection.

Make a bag of those two "films" matching 100% using stripes of PCB-material and fix one film on the "tray" with single sided and the other one with double sided adhesive tape. Then slide the PCB material into the bag and expose alternating. Unnecessary to say that the PCB has to slide into the bag with no gap between reference stripes.

That's about it.

Boncuk

 

Hi,
There's a way of getting Gerber file from Eagle program too. Check this tutorial from SparkFun.

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After you make your gerbers in Eagle you can download "Veiwmate" for free to check your gerber files.

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