Anyone can make pcb from pdf file?

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#21
Installing Layout 5.0 6.0

While you install the program, after clicking Setup you will be asked if you would like to install in German, French and English, select English and you are just fine..
I just tried this a moment ago on a laptop which never had Sprint Layout installed..
Hope this helps..


If you have German Version installed, and you like to set the program to English, then all you need to do is following if you do not want to reinstall. Change Directory to

C:\Program Files (86)\sprint layout50 *or 60*

Look for SPRACHE.INI
open the file for edit with NOTEPAD
and set it to this:
[Sprache]



Sprache=1


Save the file, and exit. Next time your Layout will start in English

Regards
 

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#22
JMFahey said:
Just curious: some PCB packages allow displaying a graphic PCB image on screen so it can be "cloned" easier, not automatically of course, but allowing user to put library components and tracks/pads following image layout, which in due course can be used to generate Gerbers and other data.
Does yours?
Not a real PRO feature, more hobbyist oriented,but it doesn´t hurt having it available.

No automatic PDF to Gerber conversion possible, because no parts or connectivity data is included, although I *guess* some fabricator might use some software which recognizes hole position to drive a CNC driller and generate a black on white transparency to expose photosensitive PCBs.

And even so it would lack data for pad and via through hole plating.

Really the best option here is to home make them, using PDF to create transparencies for exposure, hand aligning and drilling .... which certainly was the current hobby/DIY technology when the original article was published.

FWIW in 80's Argentina, one technique used for "cloning" 🙄 foreign made stuff was to empty the PCB and ... you won´t believe it: >>X Ray<< it 😱

Medical X Rays are collimated, meaning they travel in a parallel path (although they originally come from a point source, the X Ray tube anode) so X Ray image is perfect 1:1 size.

PCB copper is X Ray opaque (compared to base material) and gives you a perfect image, only somewhat weak, but it can be contact copied on Graphic Litho film, which gives you very dense and sharp image ... perfect for silkscreen or direct PCB etching 😎

There were a couple small PCB shops specializing on "reverse engineering" 😛
Click to expand...

I know that some of Chinese manufacturers where taking (and probably still do) pdfs as source.
 
#24
Sprint layout is easier. Re-install in English, import the picture per layer (.bmp only) retrace, save, export gerbers and drill file. When done, make sure you check them in any gerber viewer online or offline before sending to production, some of the manufacturers providing online gerber pre-view and some very few (at least used to) taking layout files (.lay)
 
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