KiCad Gerber and Drill Files

Here is to describe that how to Make Sure Gerber and Drill Files Produced by Kicad Can Be Adopted to Traditional PCB Maker.

Since the opensource layout softwares are not popular in Asia currently, we are trying to produce pcb in this Area like China, Taiwan or other localized areas. We should to use most popular gerber viewers to meet their requirements even though the format of geber is RS-274-X. So the following steps are to make sure the KiCad's gerber/drill files are suitable for like CAM350, CAMtastic 2000 PCB viewer. Of course you can also use gerbv to view.

Gerber Files

On KiCad side, do

1, Click the Files/Plot menu option.

2, Set as following settings.

3, Click the Plot button.

KiCad Plot Settings

On CAMtastic side import gerber files, do set as

1, Digits in Integer:Decimal as 3:4.

2, Units in English(In.).

3, Type in Absolute.

4, Zero Suppression in Leading.

Drill File

On KiCad side, do

1, Click the button of Create Drill File.

2, Set as following settings.

3, If you want a drill sheet just click related Drill map check item.

KiCad Drill File Settings

On CAMtastic side import drill file, do set as

1, Digits in Integer:Decimal as 2:4.

2, Units in English(In.).

3, Type in Absolute.

4, Zero Suppression in Leading.

References

• http://batchpcb.com/index.php/Faq
• Get the KiCad version used by Werner and Qi, http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/fped/downloads/