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Import Gerber...and than nothing

matteo92
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:04:35 GMT

Hi everybody! I'm a new user of FlatCam 8.5 and I think it's great...I bought a 3D Printer (to be convertet in a milling machine) just because the existance of this software. Now back to the problem. I made some circuits using the latest version of Eagle CAD 8.6.3 after that I used the CAM export utility to generate Gerber files. When i try to import those Gerbers into FlatCAM, in some cases it works great, for others nothing just happens. I mean that there aren't error codes or messages in the command line...just nothing! I tryed to figure out the problem looking at the codes putting a "good one" (that has been imported in FlatCAM) and a "bad one" side by side . Except for the X/Y coordinates they look just the same. The "bad code" is attached below. Does anybody know how to solve this issue? Thanks for any advice. Matteo --- G04 EAGLE Gerber X2 export* %TF.Part,Single*% %TF.FileFunction,Copper,L2,Top,Mixed*% %TF.FilePolarity,Positive*% %TF.GenerationSoftware,Autodesk,EAGLE,8.6.3*% %TF.CreationDate,2018-02-22T09:25:40Z*% G75* %MOMM*% %FSLAX34Y34*% %LPD*% %AMOC8* 5,1,8,0,0,1.08239X$1,22.5*% G01* %ADD10R,1.651000X1.651000*% %ADD11C,1.651000*% %ADD12C,2.000000*% %ADD13C,1.524000*% %ADD14P,1.429621X8X22.500000*% %ADD15C,0.152400*% D10* X279200Y406400D03* D11* X254200Y406400D03* D12* X409100Y259600D02* X429100Y259600D01* X429100Y198600D02* X409100Y198600D01* X467100Y218600D02* X467100Y238600D01* D13* X582930Y513080D02* X582930Y528320D01* X610870Y528320D02* X610870Y513080D01* D14* X304800Y520700D03* X330200Y520700D03* D13* X431800Y375920D02* X431800Y360680D01* X457200Y360680D02* X457200Y375920D01* X482600Y375920D02* X482600Y360680D01* D14* X165100Y292100D03* X266700Y292100D03* D15* X166116Y292608D02* X166116Y318516D01* X252984Y405384D01* X166116Y292608D02* X165100Y292100D01* X252984Y405384D02* X254200Y406400D01* X432816Y368808D02* X435864Y368808D01* X454152Y387096D01* X460248Y387096D01* X467868Y379476D01* X467868Y350520D02* X467868Y228600D01* X467868Y350520D02* X467868Y379476D01* X432816Y368808D02* X431800Y368300D01* X467100Y228600D02* X467868Y228600D01* X609600Y472440D02* X609600Y519684D01* X609600Y472440D02* X487680Y350520D01* X467868Y350520D01* X609600Y519684D02* X610870Y520700D01* X457200Y368300D02* X457200Y298704D01* X419100Y260604D01* X419100Y259600D01* X304800Y431292D02* X304800Y520700D01* X304800Y431292D02* X280416Y406908D01* X279200Y406400D01* X483108Y420624D02* X483108Y368808D01* X483108Y420624D02* X582168Y519684D01* X483108Y368808D02* X482600Y368300D01* X582168Y519684D02* X582930Y520700D01* X266700Y373380D02* X266700Y292100D01* X266700Y373380D02* X329184Y435864D01* X329184Y519684D01* X330200Y520700D01* M02* ---

Marius Stanciu
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 14:45:05 GMT

Hi, The Gerber code snippet that you posted above is loading without a hitch when using the development version of FlatCAM. FlatCAM 8.5 is a bit old now and a 8.6 version is long overdue. Read the manual and install the development edition and you will see that beside solving your problem, there are other "goodies" there :) See the picture attached. [Test_gerber](//muut.com/u/flatcam/s3/:flatcam:zOwM:test_gerber.jpg.jpg)

matteo92
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 08:26:07 GMT

Hi Marius, really thanks for your time and advice. Actually I don't understand what you mean with "development edition". I tried to follow the download link (for windows) and copy the "repository" directory. In this folder there are a lot of pyton codes but i don't know how to implement them in my 8.5 versione. I really hope you can help me with your expertise. Thanks Matteo

Marius Stanciu
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:19:37 GMT

Hi Matteo, The development version is just that: a bunch of files written in Python. In order to make it work you'll have to run FlatCAM from command line (Command Prompt window). But before that you will have to install the toolchain, and I mean Python itself and some other packages that are required. Instructions on how you will do that are here, section 2.1.1: http://flatcam.org/manual/installation.html#windows If there are other packages that needs to be installed you'll see the error in the Command prompt window and you will have to install them with command: pip install package_name I say that because the instructions may be outdated. I'm afraid that you need to have some knowledge about those sort of things, as there is no installer released, yet. If you read the older topics here, I think there is one post where I helped somebody else through this process. Good luck, Marius

matteo92
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:22:54 GMT

Thanks Marius, you're very kind. I'll try soon (hopefully). Matteo

matteo92
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 09:33:13 GMT

Hi Marius and anyother that will partecipate to this discussion, I've got serious problems with the repository version. I mean, even the 'pip' command is not recognized and the most common solutions I've found are useless in my case (python is out of my experties), I didn't see other issues importing gerber file in the discussion section, so I'm starting to think that probably there's something wrong in my design. I'm using Eagle 8.7.0 and the default CAM engine. There's somethin specific I've to do before generate gbr file? Really thanks!

Marius Stanciu
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 10:40:02 GMT

Hi Matteo, FlatCAM development version can load the Gerber and Excellon files generated by Eagle but the only thing I see is that in at least version 8.7.0 the developers of Eagle created an issue with the Excellon file. They've added an '%' symbol at the end of a comment line, which FlatCAM interpret as the end of the header, therefore all the other info found in header is now ignored. Because of that FlatCAM will always interpret the measure units from the Excellon file generated by Eagle as being in INCH (the default measuring unit of FlatCAM), even when the measuring units is MM. Regarding your 'pip' problem. If in trouble, delete the WinPython folder. Then install the WinPython again. Make sure you download the 32bit version, with Python 2.7. Make sure that you don't download the Zero versions (latest versions since some time, they are all Zero versions so you have to choose an older version). In the end make sure you add the python folder and the python scripts folder to the PATH environment system variable (for Windows OS) . Then install rtree, svg.path, shapely modules.

matteo92
Thu, 24 May 2018 19:33:23 GMT

Hi Marius, thanks for your time. Probably I've found a solution. I'd like to share it with you and the community. First of all: the gerber file must have a path without spaces. I mean: C:\My Folder\circuit.gbr will not be accepted. In stead C:\My_Folder\circuit.gbr is fine. Secondly: If the problem persists open a gerber test file from the installation folder, after that open your gerber. I really hope this could help community and developers.