How to draw drill hole in PCB Gerber File?

[Mechatrommer]

in Altium, PCB Gerber doesnt have drill hole information... i need this so where the drill hole, the copper on the pcb will be etched out to make drilling bit easy. i remember i can do this in DipTrace. like the guy below, he has copper etched out already at drill hole location... please help...

[Jeff_Birt]

in Altium, PCB Gerber doesnt have drill hole information... i need this so where the drill hole, the copper on the pcb will be etched out to make drilling bit easy. i remember i can do this in DipTrace. like the guy below, he has copper etched out already at drill hole location... please help...

The Gerber files do not contain drill information. That is what the Excellon drill file is for. Before I made my boards via a Taig CNC mill I used to print out a 1::1 print on a transparency and expose pre-sensitized boards with a UV lamp. Since these were drilled by hand on a small dill press, by me wearing a jewelers magnifying headset, I would reduce the inner diameter of every pad to a pin point. That way a tiny circle was all that was etched off the board and it made a perfect small spot to locate the drill.

To do this you have to make a copy of your file and change all pads the small ID. I don't recall how I did this in Eagle, I may have run a ULP to do it automatically.

[jpanhalt]

Yes, Eagle has a ULP for making small etched spots to help center the drill : drill-aid.ulp

As for the original question, I can understand the need to have a clear zone around a hole, but for hand drilling, I would still keep a pad there with an etched center for locating and centering my drill. 

Sorry,  can't answer how to do it in Altium.  In Eagle, use a round polygon as if making a copper pour.  You can also use a keepout layer and a regular geometric shape, but that would make it harder to put a small pad in the center.

John   

[Mechatrommer]

meh, so much so for multi thousands business software. in the end if you want to get satisfied, you have to make your own...