Doug,
Thanks for your reply. We certainly do do some clean up now but
there are times when the chance of our software altering data is too
large to warrant the effort. We certainly can upgrade but at 35-50K
Canadian it is difficult for me to bring the cheque signers on side.
My main gripe which I neglected to focus on was the attitude of the
folks at Protel to the issue of file size.
Regards
John Parsons
> John,
>
> We are constantly working with large files and have had it up to here
> ... with badly constructed data..(drawn shapes using .001" and .0005"
> fills).... We do extensive draw to flash of all possible features and
> then outline drawn grounds and use a fill command instead of a filled
> data file.. I believe no matter how old your RIP you can recognize a
> fill dcode..try extracting an outline and filling it.
>
> We do a lot of paint and scratch or paint and merge also to keep
> individual file size down. Many tricks to getting machines to do what
> you want....
>
> You should really check into CSI and see if you can up grade your RIP
> to include step and repeat commands it is the way to go....
>
> I am working with data optimization to see if 1/4 mil resolution can
> help my .5mm pitch pads to come out with better edges. .0197" is not
> exactly on the 1/4 mill no matter where I start.
>
> Hope this helps ,
>
> Doug Jeffery
> Electrotek, Inc.
>
>
>
> You wrote:
> >
> >Good Morning,
> >
> >I would appreciate some feedback on the following issue (and I
> >apologize in advance for the length of this message).
> >
> >We are plotting with a Fire 9300 plotter using, granted, a somewhat
> >antiquated RIP 2 (Raster image processor). Our RIP is unable to
> >accept gerber data with step and repeat codes so the size of data
> >files we receive is of a concern to us as plot files of larger than
> >14M must be run as multipass plots. At initial processor load times
> >of about 5min/M, large plot files can eat up a significant chunk of
> >our day.
> >
> >We have been noticing lately a significant increase in customer file
> >size particularly due to drawn "cleanup rings" around ground plane
> >isolations. Upon querying one of my customers on this I was told the
> >following ;
> >
> >He uses Protel for his board layout and has been quite conscious of
> >the size of his gerber output files. Previous designs were output as
> >Vector Plot files to reduce size. ( We certainly appreciate this as
> >it reduces file transfer time, processing time at the CAM station
> >(data load, screen redraws, netlist extract etc.) and makes for the
> >smallest possible output files to our plotter, after all, my plotter
> >hardware, a significant investment in most shops, is designed to
> >rasterize the plot data).
> >
> >When trying to do this with Protel's latest offering, he experienced
> >numerous hardware "Crashes". Upon contacting Protel, he was told
> >that the software has been designed to provide rasterized gerber data
> >(this setting did eliminate the "Crash" problem) and that if his
> >board shop has a problem with this that they should get with the
> >program.
> >
> >So, my question is, my somewhat outdated plotter processing
> >hardware aside, am I the only one out there who finds it beneficial
> >to process the smallest possible data sets at all steps of PCB
> >fabrication?
> >
> >Regards
> >
> >John Parsons
> >Circuit Graphics Ltd.
> >
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