Feature suggestion: Export silk screen

perette commented 8 months ago

It's possible to make a silkscreen from a circuit by adjusting image and colors, but it requires a bunch of manual steps. It would be nice if there was a built-in way to do this, similar to File->Trace Mask->Export. The silk screen export would:

export all layers except Chassis.
Override trace width to 0.5mm or so.
Override component outlines to black.
Override component colors to white.
Override all text, both component and misc, to black.

The resulting image is suitable for home-built boards, printing onto Press-N-Peel and ironing it onto the top-side of the board; or for running through ImageToPcb to make a gerber for a silk screen layer for having a board manufactured.

negout commented 3 months ago

I have just started using diylc and made a PCB layout. I was going to get the PCB made by an online manufacturer that requires a gerber file. What is a gerber file. I have not seen a way to generate in diylc. I have exported it to pdf file but that is all.

perette commented 3 months ago

@negout There is a separately-developed utility ImageToPCB which can accept image files (exported PNGS from DIYLC) and generate Gerbers. See also these instructions or this video for an overview of the process.

bancika / diy-layout-creator

Feature suggestion: Export silk screen #811