Gerber import issue

[ianh]

Hi,
I am having a problem with RVGERBER recognising the pads of an imported solder paste gerber file.  All the features in this file are 'drawn' (i.e. all apertures have identical x and y parameters and the GCODE then draws the pad with the chosen aperture).  RVGERBER doesn't recognise these as pads, so therefore I cannot place the components from the BOM on the pads!
Has anyone else seen this and found a way to get around it?

[phonoplug]

Could you post a screen shot of how it looks when imported? I think I am aware of the problem you have got. Perhaps if you don't mind posting the gerber data for that layer too that would be helpful.

[ianh]

Here is the screenshot along with the Gerber file

[phonoplug]

Yeah ok I get the same thing. I think its because your pads are drawn as tracks rather than actual pads. I've seen this before with gerber data I've had from other people's CAD systems.

If you can twiddle with your gerber output settings you should hopefully be able to change this. Not sure what the settings might be called as I'm not familiar with Camtastic.

If it helps, below is an error message which I expect is related, when I try to import the gerber data into my PCB CAD:

[phonoplug]

Your 3 fiducial marks look good though!

[ianh]

I agree with your conclusion.
Unfortunately I didn't generate the stepped gerbers, they have been supplied by my PCB manufacturer (they generated the panel file and added the fiducials)
I have aske them if they can re-generate with 'flashed' pads but I am not having much luck getting these from them.
My one-up gerbers from the original PCB design program look correct and do import, it is just the stepped ones, so these pads have been changed as part of that process.

[phonoplug]

Maybe just ask your PCB people for the exact step pitch in X and Y then if you don't already know it and set the board up using step&repeat in RVsetup. Alternatively in your original design you could copy the design to the same spacing as the panel and then you could also add the panel border fiducials too. Just output gerbers from this temp design and use those for RVgerber.

[ianh]

I agree, that may be the easiest and quickest solution.
I will give my PCB manufacture a little longer to see if they can generate the correct files for me.
I can extract the step and determine the fiducial positions from Camtastic if necessary

[Gopher]

Its been a while but I thought there was an option in RV Gerber to convert tracks to pads... Possibly in that modify layers menu.

[phonoplug]

Hmmm that was interesting. You select Menu -> Modify Layers -> Convert track group to pads (paste layer), then they all become a bit lighter green. Select only a single pad and right click. It then turns all similar shapes/tracks into pads. If you select more than one pad, or all of them, you end up with one massive pad covering the whole board!

I'll upload the TFR file that I converted.

[ianh]

Thanks for your help guys.

My PCB supplier finally managed to generate files with 'flashed' pads, but your trf file also looked good.

Cheers