| ID: | 3546 |
| From: | ge...@igor2.repo.hu |
| Date: | Sun, 24 Nov 2019 20:12:13 +0100 (CET) |
| Subject: | Re: [pcb-rnd] g-code export reconstruction (status report) |
| in-reply-to: | 3545 from ge...@igor2.repo.hu |
Hi all, I've spent a nice Sunday on rewriting the plugin from scratch. By now, I believe we have something that can do everything important the old plugin could do, plus a few extras. This is how far we got: - export copper layers with contour tracing of "copper to remain" islands, using one tool diameter (with provisions for using more in the future) - export boundary layers (board outline) and mech layers (slots and holes) doing mill-thru - the mill-thru setup is way more advanced than the original plugin was: it can go in small, incremental steps, routing the same path over and over until reaching the bottom of the board. Board thickness and stepping can be configured (it can be configured so that the cut can be made in one pass). This may help users with less rigid routers. - instead of just drilling the holes, we are milling them: this means we can do any sized hole (at least as large as the mill bit) with a single tool. The old plugin only drilled the center of the holes with a single tool diameter. Rationale for milling: I believe professional pcb fabs will use gerber and excellon for milling and drilling, so our g-code export should target hobbyists with small routers with no automatic tool swap. On such setup, trying to drill each hole with a different drill bit is not a good idea. - provision: instead of hardwiring what has to be done, the plugin is scriptable (in a non-Turing-complete way). There is one script used for cut-thru layer groups and another script used for everything else (typically copper). This way you can easily tell the code how to do its job. At the moment there's no much variations, but this allows us to have different options for copper area removal, confiruing tool usage, tolerances, etc, without having to have 200 export options and without having to break backward compatibility as we add more algorithms. - cam support: you can use the cam syntax to specify what layer groups are to be combined into what files. This together with the algorithm scripting will allow us to pick different strategy for different layers - e.g. you'd be able to use a different method for milling the bottom side that's a large gnd poly and the top side which is for signals - again with cam+scripting, you can do further fancy things, like milling the stencil (probably not out of stainless steel but a plastic sheet). I don't have a router so I have no idea if my output is good. We need testing, a lot of testing. If you have a router or mill, please consider testing the new g-code export plugin. TIA, Igor2
Reply subtree:
3546 Re: [pcb-rnd] g-code export reconstruction (status report) from ge...@igor2.repo.hu