Last changed 2005-May-1
After you have successfully laid out your PCB, you need to create files for fabricating the board. In ENGR357, you will generally be etching your own circuit board, and you will likely need an Adobe PDF printout of the top layer of your board. Boards fabricated by an outside vendor need a package of files (collectively called "Gerber files"). All of these files are prepared automatically using the "do_fablink" script. Run this in your second command window. Do_fablink knows which kind of files to make because of the vendor=wwc directive you specified in the do_package step.
hoodoo:/home/stirra/classes/engr357/pcbtut> do_fablink osc1
... lots of lines ...
$set_transcript_output("osc1/fablink.transcript", @nopad, @window);
Finally, you should see:
--------------------------------------------------- Artwork zip file created successfully ---------------------------------------------------If you see errors instead of the "Artwork zip file created successfully" message, please paste the exact error messages into an email message to me, rather than come to me and say "I got some errors". I can't help you if I don't have the exact error messages.
You should print out a copy of your "bill of materials" (parts list) to help in getting and keeping track of your parts from the lab inventory.
hoodoo:/home/stirra/classes/engr357/pcbtut> lpr osc1_bom.txt
The plot of your board artwork was put in the PDF file gerber.pdf. You can view it with acroread:
hoodoo:/home/stirra/classes/engr357/pcbtut> acroread osc1.pdfPrint a test plot to the sunlab printer. If the printout looks acceptable, you are ready for board fabrication.