Gerber files to pro engineer

Hi, We are designing a piece of photographic equipment that consists of packaging a stack of six pcb boards at various orientations. The space constraints, communication to the outside of the case and through holes for fastening decides the size and shape of the boards. This was modelled with space left for the board population and sent as a dxf to the electronics designer. Now he sends me back files xxx.gb0 through 5 and xxx.pcb for each board. I can find viewers to look at the results but they are nothing more than pictures and don't translate to useable files nor do they say anything about the relation to each other. This is not much use if I cannot use it in an assembly. Can anyone suggest how this process can be progressed? Thanks

Reply to
kenny
Loading thread data ...

Hi, We are designing a piece of photographic equipment that consists of packaging a stack of six pcb boards at various orientations. The space constraints, communication to the outside of the case and through holes for fastening decides the size and shape of the boards. This was modelled with space left for the board population and sent as a dxf to the electronics designer. Now he sends me back files xxx.gb0 through 5 and xxx.pcb for each board. I can find viewers to look at the results but they are nothing more than pictures and don't translate to useable files nor do they say anything about the relation to each other. This is not much use if I cannot use it in an assembly. Can anyone suggest how this process can be progressed? Thanks Pro/e can import ECAD data generated by PADS or other board design software as IDF files. These will have the extensions EMN and EMP. One is the board outline with vias and drill holes. The other is component placement and package size information. The article I've linked has more useful information. But your board designer needs to export these files from PADS, Orcad or whatever they're using. The gerber data is useful to the board and PWA manufactures but is of no use to Pro/e.

formatting link

David Janes

Reply to
Janes

IDF files. These will have the extensions EMN and EMP. One is the board outline with vias and drill holes. The other is component placement and package size information. The article I've linked has more useful information. But your board designer needs to export these files from PADS, Orcad or whatever they're using. The gerber data is useful to the board and PWA manufactures but is of no use to Pro/e.

Thanks David The process is not of our making, so we're entirely reliant on the board designer who has a fairly basic package. There is something here for me to follow up.

Reply to
kenny
Reply to
Janes

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.