Inner board outline cut-out to gerber

[alex934]

Hi everyone,
I would like to do an inner outline.
I did on mechanical 1 a circle then selected it and Tools->convert-> "create board cutout from primitive" , in 3D it works fine, but when I generate the gerber and send it to the manufacturer, the hole in the middle doesn't appears.
THe outline of the PCB should be on mechanical 1 right? If i look in the .GKO (keep out layer) there is nothing in it.

Thank you for your help

[voltsandjolts]

Talk to your manufacturer, they'll sort it for you.

[alex934]

There is nothing to do?

I am wondering how he knows that the circle in the center should be a hole or not, there is no deifference in the gerber

[ajb]

Are those component outlines all on the same layer as the board outline?  If so that will be confusing for your manufacturer.  I would put ONLY the routed outline of the board in a single gerber and tell the manufacturer that you have done so, and in which gerber file.  Make sure your gerber outjob is setup to export this appropriately, and that you don't have other mechanical layers inappropriately select under 'add to all plots'.

Personally I use GM1 for board routing, and when panelizing an embedded board array I use GM2 for the panel routing, but there are other conventions.  As long as you make it easy for your manufacturer to understand it doesn't really matter.  You may want to include a manufacturing drawing with callouts that explain exactly what you want.

[Mikekoz13]

Remember... the images (pads, smd pads, solder mask openings, etc.) that are in each gerber file represent what will physically be part of the fabricated board. The hole is not a "feature" that will be etched etc..

What I do is add a line, with a width, that represents the outline of the cutout on the same layer that I have my board outline. Then I create an additional gerber file with only that layer turned on and send that gerber file to the board house along with the other gerber and drill files. I name that gerber file "Outline/Cutouts".

[alex934]

Okay thank you very much