I've posted this on their forum, but thought I'd ask here because... well... I'm desperate.
I should have used EagleCAD! Everyone told to me to use EagleCAD!! But would I listen!?!?!
Anyway, I designed this:
(Nice eh? ;))
Exported to Gerber files and loaded it up in ViewMate to check things. (I was intending to send the files off to BatchPCB for a couple of boards.)
What I get, is a warning that my drill file doesn't match the board dimensions; and the board shape has been exported at the wrong size!
All I can do is beg the internet for help and hope someone knows how this can be remedied. All that work getting the precise measurements and alignments needed... all that pain... wasted!
You should really use eagle. Go through a tutorial (sparkfun has one), and a board like that will take you half an hour of focused work (or an hour if your like me and get distracted by shiny things).
I made the mistake of relying on the autorouter until I realized it's NOT the way to go. Route the wires yourself, it's actually somewhat entertaining - like a puzzle.
I enjoyed the routing part. Bit of a head scratcher at points - trying to position those resistors where they wouldn't be in the way on the top of the board. Fingers crossed I got it right.
I have to say, the guys over at Fritzing have been incredible in sorting this out. Amazing support, for which they have no idea how grateful I am. I really didn't want to start again on this.
@UltraMagnus, I'm hoping it's supposed to be mirrored for the manufacture. Guess I'll find out one way or another.
I enjoyed the routing part. Bit of a head scratcher at points - trying to position those resistors where they wouldn't be in the way on the top of the board. Fingers crossed I got it right. Cheesy
Just wait 'till you get into SMD board design. Just finished breaking out a 100 pin BGA atmega chip - quite a painful experience at times.
It was a dpi problem from Illustrator. Apparently the SVG export (used for the board shape) there uses a different setting than everyone else. So the Fritzing chaps had attempted to tweak their system to accomodate but had missed this bit.
Turns out the drill file probably isn't an issue. ViewMate won't import it but it seems fine elsewhere.
And the board mirroring is probably ok since the silkscreen output is on the bottom layer, so if viewed top down it would probably appear flipped.
I've sent it off through BatchPCB so will let you know in a month whether it all worked.
Well... I got my boards back. I got twice as many as ordered but it's been painful waiting for them.
Not bad considering this was my first ever PCB attempt. Couple of small mistakes but everything is workable. Now I just need to wait until my drill's battery is recharged and attempt to drill a small mounting hole that I forgot about.
