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Converting Eagle printed circuit board layout files to Gerber format

Posted 11th February 2012 at 12:20 AM by rjm
Updated 29th January 2017 at 03:13 AM by rjm

File this under "things-I-should-have-learnt-to-do-many-years-ago-but-was-too-lazy-to-bother".

Many pcb fab outfits that do business with hobbyists and DIYers choose to accept Eagle .brd files, which means they do the conversion to Gerber output so you don't have to. I've relied on that for far too long, but when an error showed up in one the .pdf proofs on the last batch of boards I sent out for fabrication, they asked me to send the Gerber files instead. So I bit the bullet and after a couple of false starts managed to give them what they wanted. Looking back at it, it was easy and something I should have learnt, as I wrote up above, years ago, but, for posterity, here's how it's done:

Eagle 6 on Windows
  1. Make a working folder for the Gerber files.
  2. Copy the Eagle board (.brd) file to this directory.
  3. Open Eagle (version 6.1)
  4. Select menu item "file/open/CAM job"
  5. The open file dialog appears, defaulting to the Eagle CAM directory. Open the file called "gerber.cam". The CAM Processor window now appears
  6. From the CAM Processor windows select menu item "file/open/board" and open the .brd file you copied to the directory in step 2.
  7. Click on the "Process Job" button. There is a short progress bar, maybe a warning about having more than one signal active.
  8. A bunch of 8 new files are created in the working folder. As prompted, you should delete the temp file which ends in .$$$
  9. OK, almost done. You still need to make the drill files. From the CAM Processor window, choose "file/open/job" and select "excellon.cam"
  10. Click on the Process Job button again, and 2 new files are created, .dri and .drd
  11. Delete, if you like, the original Eagle .brd file from the working folder. You should be left with 9 files (.cmp .drd .dri .gpi .plc .sol .stc .sts and .whl) Select them, and, on Windows at least, choose to add to a zip compressed archive.
  12. That's it, you're done. The archive is ready to be sent off to the board manufacturer.

Update for Eagle 7
  1. Make a working folder for the Gerber files.
  2. Copy the Eagle board (.brd) file to this directory.
  3. Open Eagle (version 7.x)
  4. Select menu item "file/CAM processor
  5. The 3 CAM processor window opens, choose file/open/job. Open the file called "gerb274x.cam".
  6. From the CAM Processor windows select menu item "file/open/board" and open the .brd file you copied to the directory in step 2.
  7. Click on the "Process Job" button. There is a short progress bar, maybe a warning about having more than one signal active.
  8. A bunch of 6 new files are created in the working folder.
  9. OK, almost done. You still need to make the drill files. From the CAM Processor window, choose "file/open/job" and select "excellon.cam"
  10. Click on the Process Job button again, and 2 new files are created, .dri and .drd
  11. Delete, if you like, the original Eagle .brd file from the working folder. You should be left with 8 files (.cmp .drd .dri .gpi .plc .sol .stc .sts) Select them, and, on Windows at least, choose to add to a zip compressed archive.
  12. That's it, you're done. The archive is ready to be sent off to the board manufacturer. You can check them online at www.gerber-viewer.com
.

** update Dec 2016: changed the cam job from gerber to gerb274x. The results are generally more compatible with fabrication houses and viewer utilities.

** update Jan 2017: edited the resultant file list in the 7.x version to 8 files.

Probably. I'm not an expert. It's what I did and I was told by the receiving party that all was present and correct.

Any comments and corrections would be welcome.
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Comments

  1. Old Comment
    pinkmouse's Avatar
    Good stuff. The only thing that may need thought is that some board houses want their own .extensions for individual board layers, or have limited drill sizes, so it's always best to add a text file with the drill sizes you have used and identifiers for each layer. I usually add a pdf of the complete board as well so they can check orientation and placement.
    permalink
    Posted 12th February 2012 at 12:04 AM by pinkmouse pinkmouse is offline
  2. Old Comment
    Calvin's Avatar
    I tried the procedure for eagle 7.5 and all gerber files apart from the .whl are generated.
    What´s the .whl file for and how can I generate it?
    permalink
    Posted 24th January 2017 at 11:52 AM by Calvin Calvin is offline
  3. Old Comment
    rjm's Avatar
    The combination of gerb274x and excellon generates only 8 files, .whl is not created.

    I didn't notice the change from the previous recipe and will edit the main post accordingly.

    I don't know what the .whl file was but I do know it is not needed anymore.
    permalink
    Posted 29th January 2017 at 03:10 AM by rjm rjm is offline
 

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