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Double-sided PCB Tool

parkyjimbo
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 16:14:23 GMT

From the manual item "3. Create the mirror image of the bottom layer by clicking on Create Mirror. This will create a new Gerber object for the project." When the Mirror Object button is pressed the bottom layer is flipped fine in the view window but how is the gerber file of this mirror flip created ? I see no file with the _mirror extension created in the list like in the manual. I have read and re-read the manual and I must not be understanding something or doing something wrong. Everything in my PCB project appears fine apart from the vital flipped bottom layer as I have checked out all the other g code created by FlatCAM including the alignment holes on my CNC machine controller using LinuxCNC.

parkyjimbo
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 10:09:32 GMT

I think I have answered my own question , it appears that the Double Sided PCB Tool is used on the PCB bottom gerber file before any other operations are done , probably a result of me not understanding the process . Anyway I have got it to work so it's all good :). Oh and by the way it is a fantastic bit of software and a tribute to your software ability. Because of this software I have managed to set up a totally open-source tool chain to make prototype PCB's and laminated plastic QR codes for my University research project. Kudo's to you. Jim

jpcaram
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 18:11:24 GMT

Hi Jim, I apologize for not responding earlier. The terminology can get a little complicated at times: A Gerber Object is the "data" managed in FlatCAM. The data gets flipped, bit there is no new Gerber file created. Any operations on this "flipped data" will be flipped as well, so will be the final G-Code file you will get from it... But you figured this so far I believe! Thanks for the positive comments! Spread the word. Thanks, JP

Sebastian Szafran
Mon, 13 Apr 2015 15:08:33 GMT

Hi Jim, I have a problem with creating alignment holes using Double sided PCB tool. Mirroring works fine, but when I click 'Create alignment drill' nothing happens. There are no any files created by FlatCAM. What is the order of operations on oyur side? Maybe I do something wrong. I create mirror directly from gerber files loaded into FlatCAM. I fully agree with you that FlatCAM is amazing piece of software. Excellent job from Juan Pablo Caram. Thx a lot :) :) :) Regards - Seb.

parkyjimbo
Mon, 13 Apr 2015 16:58:10 GMT

I select the bottom Copper gerber file then on the Tool Tab I have radio button Mirror Axis set to X and Axis Location radio button set to Point ,Drill Diam to 0.5mm. I then clicked the Mirror Object button and you will see this flip your bottom layer. I then right clicked on a point of my x axis to copy the co-ordinates like (123.1897, -133.4510) to the clipboard then pasted this into Point/Box textbox. I then right clicked on two points separately along the x axis either side of my board pasting the individual clipboard values into the Alignment holes Text box separated by a comma like the following (125.0036, -129.2186),(282.2052, -121.0562) . You then select the Alignment Drills file and on the selected Tab you press the Generate button , this will create the CNC job and you will see the tool paths between the drill holes on your design. I've added a screenshot of the FlatCam window. Hope this helps. Best Wishes. -Jim [Screenshot from 2015-04-13 17:55:33](//muut.com/u/flatcam/s2/:flatcam:0pza:screenshotfrom20150413175533.png.jpg)

Sebastian Szafran
Mon, 13 Apr 2015 20:24:44 GMT

Thanks a lot Jim :) :) :) I forgot to type the separating comma between Alignment holes coordinates. I appreciate your quick response a lot. Thanks and regards - Seb.