Your tips on generating gerbers

[snoopy]

In the past I have always relied on the pcb fabricator to generate the gerbers from my Protel pcb files.

Since I have moved to Altium the file size has blown out with the inclusion of 3D objects etc so its time to generate gerbers files myself.

Are there any pitfalls to watch out for in doing this ?

I assume people use File -> Fabrication Outputs -> Gerber Files

OK so what settings do you use for the various tabs ?

Imperial or metric units ?

Format 2:3, 2:4 or 2:5 ?

Layers to Plot ?

Drill Drawing settings ?

cheers

[ludzinc]

Talk to the fab house, do as they prefer.

[free_electron]

Dont sweat it, dont overdo it.

Make sure that, outside your board there is text that identifies every layer. Use the .layer_name special string for that.

Create an output job
Gerber setup : 2:4 , all layers on , no mechanicals added , no layers flipped.
Ncdrill setup 2:4.

Run, zip , email , done.

[snoopy]

Dont sweat it, dont overdo it.

Make sure that, outside your board there is text that identifies every layer. Use the .layer_name special string for that.

Create an output job
Gerber setup : 2:4 , all layers on , no mechanicals added , no layers flipped.
Ncdrill setup 2:4.

Run, zip , email , done.

That's great. Is there a preference for imperial or metric units or does it make any difference ?

cheers

[free_electron]

Doesnt matter , as long as both drill and gerber are in the same units.