CAM capabilities (PCB milling)

[nobody]

The possibility to generate toolpaths for PCB milling machines (e.g. LPKF) or CNC routers (e.g. ISEL, Roland) would be desirable.

At the moment, the only electronic CAD package that integrates this functionality is Cadsoft Eagle. Major PCB milling machine manufacturers have their own CAM packages, that take as input Gerber and Excellon files, and output the toolpaths. Eagle is limited to milling out track contours and drilling holes. Proprietary packages can also mill out (rub out) the unnecessary copper from selected areas.

If a rubout function, as above, is provided, for usability it must be possible to select the areas where to apply it. This because rubouts are extremely demanding on machine time and tool wear, and should therefore be applied where strictly necessary only.

The output format should be either HPGL or simple G-Code (lines only, with no arcs, and possibility to select metric or imperial G-Code, for highest compatibility) or, possibly, both, as PCB millers normally require HPGL and milling machines G-Code.

Possibly the best tools for such integration would be Gerbview or EeSchema, with a preference for Gerbtool, as the generation of toolpath code effectively follows the generation of geometrical production data (Gerber, Excellon).

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