PCB Multilayer printed circuit boards are the basis of electronic devices. The increase in circuit density and the trend of decreasing the size of electronic products have led to the development of higher complexity of circuit boards. These holes or through-holes are responsible for the electrical connections between the layers and the corresponding functions that the board will perform according to the design requirements, which will not function effectively unless they are properly designed or manufactured.
For unsuitable manufacturing, it can be easily solved by choosing a reliable PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer. The solution to another problem, that of inappropriate design, is largely up to the board design engineer and must be based on the work done by the PCB manufacturer to create an integrated and reliable design document.
The generation of CNC drilling files (NC) has long puzzled most PCB design engineers. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the design guidelines based on the leading PCB design software. NC drilling file, short for numerical Control drilling file, refers to a file used to regulate all information about the hole or through the drilling requirements, including tool dimensions, hole dimensions, and location.
It is very important for PCB design engineers to create NC drilling files because converting PCB files to NC drilling files and Gerber files can save a lot of trouble. Still, many engineers tend to send PCB files directly to PCB multilayer PCB manufacturers without converting them to NC drilling files or Gerber files. They have been used to complete the PCB design file or export the design file from the PCB cloning software and send it to the board manufacturer.
The normal workflow is that after receiving the PCB design files, the PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer must convert them into NC drilling files and Gerber files before manufacturing. Because an electronics engineer working in a PCB manufacturing plant will understand a printed circuit board from a completely different perspective than a PCB engineer. The generated Gerber file may not be what the PCB designer expected.
For example, some PCB multilayer PCB design engineers want to define component parameters in the design file, but they do not want this information to be displayed on the final product. If the PCB design engineer does not point this out, this information will remain on the final product and may result in waste. In addition, certain problems or uncertain aspects of the Gerber file generation process may be caused by differences in software versions.
Therefore, the best solution is that PCB design engineers should convert their design file into a Gerber file with the NC drilling file created, and then send it to the PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer, thus avoiding unnecessary trouble.
Almost all PCB design software can generate NC drilling files using its standard format such as Excellon, which was originally a PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer providing CNC (computer numerical control) systems for drilling and milling machines. Due to its long service life and active role in PCB drilling and wiring equipment, Excellon has been accepted and is known as a set of industry standards. Excellon is widely used in standard CNC drilling and milling due to its ability to specify machine-determined information such as drilling and speed.
How do PCB multilayer PCB manufacturers generate NC drilling files through Altium Designer?
Altium Designer is a PCB drawing and editing software, PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturers how to generate NC drilling files through this software? In the main interface of Altium Designer, click File >> Manufacturing Output >> NC Drilling File, and then go to the NC Drilling Setup dialog box, where you need to specify options, including NC drilling format, leading/trailing zeros, coordinate position, etc. The data units in the NC drilling file can be inches or millimeters and should be compatible with the data units in the Gerber file.
For Format, there are three options: 2:3, 2:4, and 2:5, with 2:3 having the lowest resolution and 2:5 having the highest resolution. Before determining which format, it is necessary to consult the PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer to determine which format is compatible with the manufacturing level.
Zero inhibition makes NC drilling files neat and tidy, and relies on the PCB designer's application habits and convenience. When the rebound of leading zeros is prohibited, and when trailing zeros are prohibited, the end zeros will be deleted and the start zeros will be deleted.
The coordinate position contains two options: absolute origin and relative origin, both of which should be selected according to the specific requirements of the designer of the PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer. In addition, it should be the same coordinate location as specified in the Gerber file. Other projects can be selected if required by the project. Once you have identified all the items, press OK to generate the NC drill File, which will be saved in the default path of the subfolder under the folder containing the Project File.
PCB Multilayer printed circuit board manufacturers how to generate NC drilling files through Cadence Allegro (OrCAD)?
Unlike Altium Designer, the default format of the NC drill file exported by Cadence Allegro is not Excellon's format. Therefore, before the actual NC drilling file is generated, the engineer of the PCB multi-layer printed circuit board manufacturer needs to set the relevant parameters by clicking Manufacture >> NC >> NC Parameters to enter the NC Parameters dialog box.
In the NC Parameters dialog box, you need to identify the output file and the project in Excellon format. When it comes to the code in the output file, ASCII is often chosen because it is considered a newer type of code compared to EIA. To generate a NC drill file with Excellon format, you must click before enhancing the Excellon format.
For zero suppression, it is necessary to click before "leading" or "trailing" zero suppression according to the project requirements of the designer of the PCB multilayer PCB manufacturer or in order to be consistent with Gerber Files.
After confirming the project, click the "Close button" and the "NC Parameters" dialog box will exit. Then click Manufacture >> NC >> NC Drill to enter the NC Drill dialog box. After determining the item in this dialog box, press Drill to end the generation of Drill Files. The NC drill file you created can be found in the default folder.
PCB multi-layer printed circuit board manufacturers how to generate NC drilling files through PADS?
To generate CAM output from PADS software, the engineer of the PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturer opens the PCB design File in PADS and clicks File >> CAM >> Define CAM Documents. For the drill layer, select it and click Edit, while for the layer that does not need to be drilled, click Add directly.
In the Edit Document dialog box window, the PCB multilayer PCB manufacturer design engineer presses the Drill and Device Settings button to specify the format of the NC drill file in the NC Drill Settings window. To specify the format of the NC drill file, first press the Excellon button at the top left of this window.
In this window, you can see many projects similar to those discussed in previous PCB design software. For the output type, select ASCII. For "Units", "Zero suppression" and "coordinates", select the corresponding units. When you are done, press the OK button.
Different PCB design engineers have different preferences for their application software, so they must follow different methods of generating NC drilling files to meet the requirements of PCB multilayer printed circuit board manufacturers. Although different PCB design software differs from each other in terms of exporting NC drilling files, there is a universal rule that the parameters applied in NC drilling files must be compatible with those in Gerber files, so as to greatly enhance and enhance the reliability of the final product.
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