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bennymeg / Fabrication-Toolkit

An JLC PCB Fabrication Plugin for KiCad
Apache License 2.0
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Output files do not follow JLCPCB recommendations #140

Closed arxwtf closed 4 months ago

arxwtf commented 4 months ago

JLCPCB's Help Center contains an article about preferred settings for generated Gerbers and drill files.

I noticed these discrepancies between plugin outputs and JLCPCB recommendations (there might be others):

  1. Plugin uses .gbr file extensions. JLC prefers Protel file extensions.
  2. Plugin uses AUX origin (also called "use drill/place file origin"). JLC prefers absolute file origin.
  3. Drill file also uses AUX origin.
  4. Drilling: "minimal header" is set to true. Screenshot in JLC article has this set to false.
  5. Drill units are set to "imperial". JLC prefers "metric"
  6. Drill map files are not generated (third argument is False). JLC recommends generating drill map files. Map file format should be Gerber (see SetMapFileFormat -> PLOT_FORMAT_GERBER).

~Also, it would be nice if the option "Do not tent vias" could be chosen by plugin user before plotting (by a checkbox, like "Exclude DNP components" is chosen now).~

Thank you for this handy plugin!

Edit: after further inspection, I think the absolute / AUX origin doesn't really matter as long as they are the same for gerbers, drill files and position file - which they are now.

Edit 2: I noticed that "do not tent vias" from plot settings is respected, so I guess that's a good solution too.

bennymeg commented 4 months ago

Thank you for the elaborated explanation. Would you be willing to submit a PR for these issues?