Panelizing EAGLE files?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

No doubt this isn't the best place for this question, but it seems reasonably on-topic. I have a PCB design that measures 3.35 x 1.65", and I'd like to arrange this two-up to have boards made from SeeedStudio (since 5x10 cm costs the same as 10x10 cm). I can't directly do this in Eagle since I'm using the free version, which is limited to a 8 x 10 cm board size.

I've found a write-up at Instructables (www.instructables.com/id/Panelizing-PCBs-for-Seeed-Using-Eagle-Free-Light/) which recommends, and gives instructions for, using gerbmerge (http://ruggedcircuits.com/gerbmerge/) to panelize the Gerber files. I'm running into a problem, though: gerbmerge seems to require a .BOR file, and Seeed's .CAM file for Eagle doesn't seem to generate a .BOR file for the Board Outline.

Being a relative newbie to Eagle, and a complete newbie to gerbmerge, I'm kind of stuck here. How do I get the .BOR file generated, or can I tell gerbmerge to skip it? Or is there another, better option to do what I'm looking for?

2

You can edit the .cam file with a text editor. I'd go through an explanation of how to add another layer (section) but it's pretty self-explanatory.

3

Have you looked at iteadstudio.com for pricing?
They have pricing for 5x5, 5x10, and 10x10cm.

4

Iteadstudio and Seeedstudio are the same price for 5x10 as for 10x10--it's $25 for 10 boards in either size from either place. Getting twice the boards for the same price seems good to me, if all I have to do is cut them apart. Of course, the preliminary step of getting the files ready to place the order seems to be more involved than I'd anticipated...

5

Itead has 3 prices for 5x5, 5x10, and 10x10: $9.90, $22, and $24.90
http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html

I think the step to duplicating the design is to open the board and Not schematic, and then copy/paste the board routing.
Do a save-as with different file name before proceeding with CAM processor.

6

Interesting note at http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/-p-835.html?cPath=185

Dear Customers,
Extremely sorry for our terrible service on Fusion PCB since October. The colleague responsible on this took leave of sudden issue, we are picking up the gears in a rash which caused such super long delays.
A task force is working crazy to respond current situation, all stacked orders will be transacted FIFO. We will regain the service quality soon and improve the shopping experience much further. Excuse us for the extreme inconvenience! All orders delaying too long should receive a fusion PCB coupon. Thank you so much for the patience and understanding!

  • Eric Pan, Founder and CEO of Seeed
7

Yeah, I was thinking of trying out Seeed for my last PCB order, but when I saw that, I placed it with Itead instead.

I must say I think overall Seeed are a very good place to deal with, though. Everything I've ordered from them to date has been delivered quickly.

8

I too saw that note on seeedstudios website. I sent a question asking if there are still delays. Here's the response I got:

we have improve the problem. you can upload your file through our web now, it will avoid the file missed. but please double check your file before you send them. just like if they include drill, outline and so on. it will reduce the process time.

So I went ahead and placed my order. 2 days later it was in production. 5 days later it was shipped. Seems reasonable enough.

9

Not sure where I was looking at Itead, but clearly not at the right page. Even so, though, the $/in^2 is clearly much less for the 10x10 than the 5x10.

Copy and paste in Eagle gave me two problems: (1) a second copy of my board would be outside the 8x10 cm working area for the free version, and (2) it will renumber all the components, which isn't good when I'm planning on distributing the boards. There's a ULP that comes with Eagle which I understand addresses the second issue, but not the first.

In any event, I found the (or at least a) solution in the DorkBotPDX .CAM file. Just add this section to the end of your .CAM file:

[Sec_11]
Name[C]="Board Outline"
Name[en]="Board Outline"
Prompt[C]=""
Prompt[en]=""
Device="GERBER_RS274X"
Wheel=".whl"
Rack=""
Scale=1
Output="%N.BOR"
Flags="0 0 0 1 0 1 1"
Emulate="0"
Offset="0.0mil 0.0mil"
Sheet=1
Tolerance="0 0 0 0 0 0"
Pen="0.0mil 0"
Page="12000.0mil 8000.0mil"
Layers=" 20"
Colors=" 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 6 6 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 2 6 8 8 5 8 8 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 2 4 3 6 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0"

Then, at the beginning, add a line that says "Section=Sec_11". Having done that, gerbmerge works fine. It seems like a pretty powerful tool, but it has a bit of a learning curve. It'd be great if there were a GUI front-end for it.

10

If you don't have all that many components, you can remove the eagle parts names and add your own Text names on the "top place" layer instead. When the silkcreeen is added it will look the same.