PCB Gerber files

[Ken Peek]

I used the T-Tech machine a few years back at another job.  It only had the DOS
version of IsoPro, which was "OK", but clumsy if you have a NT or 2000 box.  I
would be interested in any software you produce.  I was always peeved that they
didn't allow the creation of isolation tracks as multiple passes.  This would
allow you to set the amount removed by the mill to a very small amount, then
just go around 3-5 times to make the width you need.

If you made the isolation software, then the rest of the equipment could be made
pretty easy (i.e. a low cost "build it yourself" mill for PCB's.)  Let me know
if you are interested-- maybe I could design such a beast...

I think the most popular Gerber standard right now is RS-274X, which includes
the apertures embedded in the Gerber output file.  You may as well stick with
that one, and then later write a utility to convert older formats to RS-274X to
support older PCB design packages.  The specs for RS-274X *must* be somewhere on
the 'net--  happy hunting...

Python should be great for this task, as the Gerber data is in ASCII format.  I
haven't played with Python's different GUI interfaces (yet), but just looking
around, I am kind of bending towards the FLTK ("Fast Light Tool Kit") which is
already wrapped up for Python (search for: pyFLTK.)

There are other handy post processing tasks that could be done too, like copper
fill of an area with ground attachment (which requires a net list or user
interaction to tell the system what nets are "ground".)  Also, a tear-dropping
operation would be nice.

Please let me know if you get anywhere with this project!

"zzzzz" <zzizz_ at notmail.com> wrote in message
news:51p9dtg7d52bqjo0jn98ag15a2tirgahdt at 4ax.com...
> On Thu, 12 Apr 2001 08:50:59 +1000, zzzzz <zzizz_ at notmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi again,
> >
> >Another Python project that I'm currently working on is processing of
> >Gerber files which are used to define data on PCBs (printed circuit
> >boards). As part of my project, I need to construct a list of closed
> >polygons with boundaries of lines & arcs, I will also need to find
> >some reference to 2D filling algorithms. Is there any other interest
> >in this area from this NG? Are there any add ons that will help, eg
> >does PyOpenGL have high level polygon tools?
>
> The reason why I'm doing this is because we have a quick circuit PCB
> prototyping milling machine (http://www.t-tech.com/)that comes with
> software called isopro, although it works alright, we would like to
> have far more control over the milling path (in the old DOS days the
> actual isolation algorithm worked better than it does today, however,
> it now has a lot of pretty GUI stuff as replacement). To do that we
> need to parse the gerber files which represents the areas of copper on
> the PCB & then generate an isolation path based on a filling
> algorithm.
> Regards,
>
> zzzzz.
> ---------------------