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ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB
file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Leland C. Scott" wrote in message ... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. W4ZCB |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Harold E. Johnson" wrote in message news:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message ... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:36:40 -0400, Leland C. Scott wrote:
"Harold E. Johnson" wrote in message news:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message ... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you. Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic capture, and works well once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things. http://www.pcbexpress.com/ -- http://www.wescottdesign.com |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On 13 June, 20:36, "Leland C. Scott" wrote:
"Harold E. Johnson" wrote in messagenews:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message m... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley Use Advanced Circuits. Their PCB Artist software is much better than Express PCB's (it's actually a special version of Easy-PC) and you get the Gerbers free with a second order for the same board, IIRC. Leon |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Leon" wrote in message ... On 13 June, 20:36, "Leland C. Scott" wrote: "Harold E. Johnson" wrote in messagenews:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message m... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley Use Advanced Circuits. Their PCB Artist software is much better than Express PCB's (it's actually a special version of Easy-PC) and you get the Gerbers free with a second order for the same board, IIRC. Leon Thanks for the advise. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Tim Wescott" wrote in message ... On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:36:40 -0400, Leland C. Scott wrote: "Harold E. Johnson" wrote in message news:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message ... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you. Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic capture, and works well once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things. http://www.pcbexpress.com/ -- http://www.wescottdesign.com I'm going to check them out. I do some small one-off PCB's to test some ideas out. I would like to have the Gerber files when I'm done in case I want to incorporate it in a larger design. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On Jun 13, 12:36*pm, "Leland C. Scott" wrote:
"Harold E. Johnson" wrote in messagenews:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message m... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley FWIW, I've been using FreePCB for layouts the past year or so, and find it's pretty well documented and easy to use. It produces Gerbers, and of course you already know that once you have those, you can find lots of different places to order boards, some faster than others, some cheaper than others. I do end up having to build footprints for FreePCB fairly often, but even that's not too bad, and once built, I have them for the future. Cheers, Tom |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Great. Thanks for the input. One other thing. I have a buddy who was looking
for a free Gerber editor for making minor artwork changes. He had some boards done outside and needs to make some changes to fix a few boo-boos when he did the design. You know of any? He only has Windows. I run Windows and Linux so either would work. I could make the changes for him. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. "K7ITM" wrote in message ... On Jun 13, 12:36 pm, "Leland C. Scott" wrote: "Harold E. Johnson" wrote in messagenews:INSYl.740928$yE1.253509@attbi_s21... "Leland C. Scott" wrote in message m... Does anybody have or know where to get a utility to convert from ExpressPCB file format to a standard Gerber file? If not any info on the file format itself? Yup. You can pay Express PCB for the file. (No utility) $75 the last time I bought one. That's not going to happen. I know I can get some reverse engineering software that will import the layout as a graphic then trace over it using the PCB layout software to generate standard Gerber files. I'm looking for something easy and I'm not paying them $75 a pop for each small board to convert. I also found out there maybe some utilities out, still looking, there that can convert from an exported PDF, or EPS file, to a Gerber format too. Getting a PDF printer driver is easy. Use the driver when printing out a copy of the board layout. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley FWIW, I've been using FreePCB for layouts the past year or so, and find it's pretty well documented and easy to use. It produces Gerbers, and of course you already know that once you have those, you can find lots of different places to order boards, some faster than others, some cheaper than others. I do end up having to build footprints for FreePCB fairly often, but even that's not too bad, and once built, I have them for the future. Cheers, Tom |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Tim Wescott
Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you. Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic capture, and works well once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things. Leland C. Scott wrote: I'm going to check them out. I do some small one-off PCB's to test some ideas out. I would like to have the Gerber files when I'm done in case I want to incorporate it in a larger design. When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format: The Downside of EAGLE aka ''The EAGLE virus'' by Markus Zingg http://groups.google.com/group/comp....nger-be-opened |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On Jun 15, 9:06*pm, "Leland C. Scott" wrote:
Great. Thanks for the input. One other thing. I have a buddy who was looking for a free Gerber editor for making minor artwork changes. He had some boards done outside and needs to make some changes to fix a few boo-boos when he did the design. You know of any? He only has Windows. I run Windows and Linux so either would work. I could make the changes for him. .... Well, I'm using ViewMate from PentaLogix. I don't do anything very complex with it, basically just view my FreePCB outputs to make sure everything is OK. I also use it to print the Gerbers for assembly documentation and to make my own boards at home--I like the immediacy of being able to make a board in an hour or two. ViewMate's free... BUT it won't let you save changes. You have to spring for the upgrade to ViewMaster EZ for $50 to be able to save (and do some other things). There may be free solutions, but since ViewMate does what I need, I haven't gone looking for them. For fixing boo-boos, I'd a lot rather go back to the PC design program and make the changes there, rather than hand-editing Gerbers, but I suppose there are good reasons to modify the Gerbers directly. I do recall some hassles trying to get my layout program do what I wanted with a solder mask recently, and was really tempted to try to modify the Gerbers! Cheers, Tom |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On 16 June, 05:06, "Leland C. Scott" wrote:
Great. Thanks for the input. One other thing. I have a buddy who was looking for a free Gerber editor for making minor artwork changes. He had some boards done outside and needs to make some changes to fix a few boo-boos when he did the design. You know of any? He only has Windows. I run Windows and Linux so either would work. I could make the changes for him. The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them, but it isn't free. Leon |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Tom;
I understand your points. My buddy does not have access to the software that was used for the layout. That's why he wanted the Gerber editor. What I have found so far is a free (GPL'd) Gerber file viewer, no editor. http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/ There are both Windows and Linux versions available for down load. It has a few bugs but so far as a viewer it works remarkably well. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley "K7ITM" wrote in message ... On Jun 15, 9:06 pm, "Leland C. Scott" wrote: Great. Thanks for the input. One other thing. I have a buddy who was looking for a free Gerber editor for making minor artwork changes. He had some boards done outside and needs to make some changes to fix a few boo-boos when he did the design. You know of any? He only has Windows. I run Windows and Linux so either would work. I could make the changes for him. .... Well, I'm using ViewMate from PentaLogix. I don't do anything very complex with it, basically just view my FreePCB outputs to make sure everything is OK. I also use it to print the Gerbers for assembly documentation and to make my own boards at home--I like the immediacy of being able to make a board in an hour or two. ViewMate's free... BUT it won't let you save changes. You have to spring for the upgrade to ViewMaster EZ for $50 to be able to save (and do some other things). There may be free solutions, but since ViewMate does what I need, I haven't gone looking for them. For fixing boo-boos, I'd a lot rather go back to the PC design program and make the changes there, rather than hand-editing Gerbers, but I suppose there are good reasons to modify the Gerbers directly. I do recall some hassles trying to get my layout program do what I wanted with a solder mask recently, and was really tempted to try to modify the Gerbers! Cheers, Tom |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"JeffM" wrote in message ... When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format: Boo! Hiss! Kick the dog. Well the dog isn't to blame , maybe not a good idea to kick it. Check this out. http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/ http://pcb.gpleda.org/news.html#20090202 http://www.gpleda.org/index.html I haven't tried out most of these tools. It would be interesting to get somebody's comments who has used them for a project. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "Brilliance is typically the act of an individual, but incredible stupidity can usually be traced to an organization." Jon Bentley |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
What I have found so far is a free (GPL'd) Gerber file viewer, no editor. How much editing do you want to do? Gerber files are just text. You can edit with a normal text editor. As long as you have a good viewer you can see if your edits did what you want. -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Hal;
May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files to see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. "Hal Murray" wrote in message ... What I have found so far is a free (GPL'd) Gerber file viewer, no editor. How much editing do you want to do? Gerber files are just text. You can edit with a normal text editor. As long as you have a good viewer you can see if your edits did what you want. -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Leon" wrote in message ... The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them, but it isn't free. You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't see any prices on the web sites from a quick look.. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:40:28 -0700 (PDT), JeffM
wrote: Tim Wescott Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you. Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic capture, and works well once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things. Leland C. Scott wrote: I'm going to check them out. I do some small one-off PCB's to test some ideas out. I would like to have the Gerber files when I'm done in case I want to incorporate it in a larger design. When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format: The Downside of EAGLE aka ''The EAGLE virus'' by Markus Zingg http://groups.google.com/group/comp....nger-be-opened Poxy hell mate. Have you never heard of tinyURL? |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:40:28 -0700, JeffM wrote:
Tim Wescott Reverse the "Express" and the "PCB" and you'll find a really nice little company that will take Gerber files and make boards for you. Eagle PCB is free for small two-layer boards, includes schematic capture, and works well once you get your brain wrapped around their way of doing things. Leland C. Scott wrote: I'm going to check them out. I do some small one-off PCB's to test some ideas out. I would like to have the Gerber files when I'm done in case I want to incorporate it in a larger design. When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format: The Downside of EAGLE aka ''The EAGLE virus'' by Markus Zingg http://groups.google.com/group/comp....se_frm/thread/ f794e82d26b59e18/d7cf4149edb93ac7?q=*-*-website+reuse+paying.*+*-I-will- switch+cracked-*+*.would.not.help.*+zzz+after-*-*-version-*+copied +*.*.unlock.*.designs+*-*-*-*-exchange-*-*-*-*-third-party+reused+qq+*-*- single-bit-*-*-*-*+useless+*-*-*-projects-could-no-longer-be-opened Ah, I forgot about that issue. So, any _other_ PCB layout program that coughs up a Gerber. Or be careful of what you copy into your schematics. -- www.wescottdesign.com |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
In article ,
"Leland C. Scott" writes: Hal; May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files to see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do. It's not the length that matters but the number of segments. I didn't mean to suggest that it would be simple. It would take a bit of trial and error to get going. You would probably have to find some specs for the gerber file format. I'd probably do the routing on paper and then transfer it to the gerber file. The important point is that you can use the viewer to show what you have so you know if you got it right. -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Hal;
I'll suggest that to my buddy and see if he has any luck. I didn't consider trying that method. The board he has is about 10 by 12 inches, double sided with around 40 through hole chips on it with several dozen discrete components sprinkled around them. That could get very interesting. Thanks for the suggestion and this may be what he will have to do. The free Gerber viewer I found will come in handy for checking the results as you pointed out. I'm sure I can find the spec's for the Gerber file format on line some place so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. "Hal Murray" wrote in message ... In article , "Leland C. Scott" writes: Hal; May have to reroute a few traces that cross a significant length of the board to fix some design errors. I haven't looked at the raw Gerber files to see how easy doing the editing by hand word be to do. It's not the length that matters but the number of segments. I didn't mean to suggest that it would be simple. It would take a bit of trial and error to get going. You would probably have to find some specs for the gerber file format. I'd probably do the routing on paper and then transfer it to the gerber file. The important point is that you can use the viewer to show what you have so you know if you got it right. -- These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Leon" wrote in message
... The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them, but it isn't free. It doesn't have many features that a purpose-built "Gerber editor" does, although it certainly works in a pinch. (The biggest problem seems to be that Pulsonix tries to be smart and figure out what things "are," whereas sometimes you just want a "dumb" editor that thinks of everything as a drawn line or a flashed shape.) Protel used to have very good Gerber import abilities... I wonder if it still does? |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
"Leland C. Scott" wrote in message
... You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't see any prices on the web sites from a quick look.. That almost always implies at least four digits. :-) You pretty much have to call up your local Pulsonix distributor to get pricing -- it tends to vary significantly worldwide. As of a little more than a year ago, any Pulsonix suite that included PCB layout was $2k in the U.S. A full-featured suite with a handful of the "spendy" options (network licensing, database connectivity, chip packaging toolkit, etc.) would tend to top $10k in the U.S. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Leland C. Scott wrote:
"JeffM" wrote in message ... When someone gets hot to trot for the Cadsoft product, I like to remind him that he may find the same situation: *His* work product tied up in **their** proprietary format: Boo! Hiss! Kick the dog. Well the dog isn't to blame , maybe not a good idea to kick it. Check this out. http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/ I've used gerbv quite usefully ! It does take a little getting used to. http://pcb.gpleda.org/news.html#20090202 http://www.gpleda.org/index.html I haven't tried out most of these tools. It would be interesting to get somebody's comments who has used them for a project. -- Best Regards: Baron. |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Joel,
I would counter your comment below. True that Protel can import Gerber but it is specifically a very limited Gerber import that works mainly only with it's own exported Gerbers. Try importing Gerbers created in another toool and you are fighting a difficult if not loosing battle. There are all sorts of legitimate Gerber expressions that it will just gag on. -- Sincerely, Brad Velander. "Joel Koltner" wrote in message ... "Leon" wrote in message ... Protel used to have very good Gerber import abilities... I wonder if it still does? |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
On 17 June, 02:10, "Leland C. Scott" wrote:
"Leon" wrote in message ... The Pulsonix software I use has can import Gerber files and edit them, but it isn't free. *You have a rough idea as to the cost for the bare-bones PCB core? I didn't see any prices on the web sites from a quick look.. -- Regards; Leland C. Scott KC8LDO "The most reliable components are *the ones you leave out." By Gordon Bell, father of the minicomputer at DEC. About $3,000. Leon |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Thanks for the information, Brad. When I was using Protel's Gerber import
functionality, it was only with Gerber files Protel itself had generated, so I never saw the important limitations you're describing. ---Joel |
ExpressPCB to Gerber file converter?
Joel,
Glad I could enlighten or warn. Plenty of users only find it out after their expectations are raised. The first one that I stumbled across was that it wouldn't even import some Protel Generated files that had been re-exported from their own Camtastic 2000DE after a couple of very minor edits. Some externally generated Gerbers may be formatted much closer than others to the precise format required.for Protel import. I have heard of a couple people having success with only edits to the initial Gerber configuration statements (approx. the first dozen lines). That wasn't the case in a couple of my attempted imports, the required edits grew exponentially as I tried to progress. -- Sincerely, Brad Velander. "Joel Koltner" wrote in message ... Thanks for the information, Brad. When I was using Protel's Gerber import functionality, it was only with Gerber files Protel itself had generated, so I never saw the important limitations you're describing. ---Joel |
Quote:
you can save your files in form of PS. Most PCB manufacturer accept this format also. Or I can Offer you the service ( Only $ 25 ). It is also possible to convert PS file to gerber file this will solve your problem. |
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