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--- smtstencil [2015/11/24 01:02] – srw7
+++ smtstencil [2020/11/04 18:02] (current) – swalde
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
   - select all→right click→clone→3columns,1row
   - select Leftmost board, edit width to be 0.1mm (toolbar on the left) (make sure "lock" aspect ratio is OFF)
-  - same as step 9, but with Rightmost board
+  - same as above, but with Rightmost board
   - select all→right click→Scatter Group
   - select all→right click→fill, Direction: X Double, 508, 0, CHECK “Delete Contours”, OK
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
   - set velocity to 800 (it will go as fast as it can) and power to 30%
   - carve out
+----
+==Gerber to DXF (New, even more complicated workflow)==
+Okay, but I have a Gerber file (that someone gave me, so, no, I can't re-export from Eagle/KiCAD) and your laser takes DXF and I can't find a free Gerber to DXF converter.  What do I do?
+Simple!  (Not really, but it seems to work)
+  - Open the GTP file in Gerbv
+  - Export as PNG, 1016 dpi (this is arbitrary and is a leftover from a previous attempted workflow)
+  - Load PNG into GIMP
+  - Set DPI in Image->Print Size.  Take note of dimensions in mm
+  - Colour->Invert
+  - Colour->Threshold (about 3/4)
+  - Select->By Colour, click black
+  - Select->Shrink Selection (5 seems to be good)*
+  - New Layer, white background
+  - Fill (whole selection) with black
+  - delete original layer
+  - Export as PNG
+  - Load PNG into Inkscape
+  - Trace Bitmap
+  - delete bitmap
+  - Note dimensions in mm
+  - save as DXF
+  - Load into Smartcarve
+  - Set the dimensions
+*
+  - New possible process from here? (avoids having to "trace" again in inkscape)
+  - In The Gimp, choose Selection->To Path.
+  - Open the paths dock.  Right-click on the path and choose "export"
+  - Name the SVG file to export.
+==Gerber to DXF (This one failed with 45 degree rounded-end pads. gerbv totally screwed up the export)==
+Okay, but I have a Gerber file (that someone gave me, so, no, I can't re-export from Eagle/KiCAD) and your laser takes DXF and I can't find a free Gerber to DXF converter.  What do I do?
+Simple!  (Not really, but it seems to work)
+I did this all on Linux, so if things work different on Windows, please let me know.
+Use **gerbv** to open the gerber file.  Look at it.  Use the Measure tool to measure some easy-to-repeat dimension.  Write that down.  In **gerbv**, there is an export option.  Export the file as SVG.
+Open that SVG file in **Inkscape**.  Save it as a "Desktop Cutting Plotter (AutoCAD DXF R14) (*.dxf)" file.  (My Inkscape had a different DXF option, but it didn't work for this.)  On the dialogue that pops up, make sure to select "mm" as your base unit.  I also used LWPOLYLINE line output.
+Now, open that DXF in **LibreCAD**. (This step might not be necessary, but follow along for now.)  Remember that dimension I asked you to measure?  Measure it again.  For some reason, whenever I do this, my drawing ends up at exactly 80% scale.  Scale it up by a factor of 1.25.  Save it.  Now, take that file to the laser.  (You could probably do the scale in SmartCarve if you know, for a fact, that it's out by that factor.  I used LibreCAD here because I knew I could use the dimension tool better than in SmartCarve.)

smtstencil.1448326973.txt.gz · Last modified: 2015/11/24 01:02 by srw7

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