For DipTrace users who want to mill their circuit board designs on your Bantam Tools Milling Machine, here are instructions to generate Gerber files that can be imported the to Bantam Tools Milling Machine Software.
What is DipTrace?
DipTrace is a commercial program for designing circuit boards. It runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
Where do I get DipTrace?
You can download DipTrace on the site.
Where can I find documentation about DipTrace?
You can also find DipTrace’s tutorials on the site.
How do I get my board design from DipTrace into the Bantam Tools Milling Machine Software?
- In the PCB Layout Editor, click File > Export > Gerber
- Click the Files button.
- In the Gerber Files window that appears, configure the default filenames and export options as shown in the following image. This will result in Gerbers that follow the software's standard filename conventions.
- Click OK.
- In the Units section, select Metric (see screenshot).
- Click Export All, select a folder, then click Save until all files are saved.
- Click Close.
If you have drills/holes in your board:
- First make sure you’re not using slotted or oval holes, as the software doesn’t support the G85 command that's used to make them. If you need a slot, make a row of overlapping holes that are a few thousandths of an inch larger than the tool and overlap by about half their diameter. For example, for a 1/32" (0.031") tool, make a row of 0.033" holes, with centers spaced 0.016" apart.
- In the PCB Layout Editor, click File > Export > N/C Drill.
- Click the Auto button to assign tools numbers to the hole sizes.
- Click Export All
- Save the file into the same folder as the Gerber files.
Import your Gerber files to the Software
- In the software, click the Open Files button.
- Navigate to the directory that contains your Gerber files.
- Open the Gerber file containing the Top layer. If you followed the instructions above, this file will end in the .gtl extension.
- In the resulting dialog, select the correct files for the Bottom (if you’re milling a double-sided board; should end in .gbl), Outline (ends in .gko), and Holes (ends in .drl). See the screenshot below for an example.
- Click Okay to finish opening the files.
Import dialog with all files selected.