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Gerbview

Loading in finished Gerbers for checking is a last step in designing a PCB.

Related kicad pages

Similar Gerber viewer

In Debian install gerbv - it has differnet features - some better some worse than gerbview

Checklist

Part Placement

Routing

Current rating of Traces, viass

Dimensions

Text on Silk Screen and other Layers

Other

Standard Sizes

Gerber file names

Inner Layers

What to send the PCB house

All the gerbers and a README.txt are packed up into a tar. ark is a great tool for this.

The README.txt should look something like this: 

 Contact name
 phone 
 email 
 address

>>>- hole dimensions are finished size- <<<<<
-PCB Name and revision number: DC_UPS3.1
Use this name on invoices
-We provide Gerber files including drill layer
  Pads 23 Through vias 16 Smallest hole .025" (0.64mm) Specified finished size. 39 holes
-FR406 or 370HR  1.57mm[.062"] IPC-4101C Sheet 24
-Copper thickness 0.0347mm [1oz]
-Quantity  4
-Sides 2
-HASL
-Silk Screen 2 sides (white or yellow)
-Solder Mask 2 sides green/matte finish SR1000 over bare copper (same art work) to IPC-7351
-Size 50 x 65mm
-To IPC specifications
- For productions quantities please Quote -
Solder resist (solder mask) is required on both external faces of the printed board, it shall meet 
the qualification/conformance IPC-SM-840.  Coverage, cure and adhesion shall be as defined in 
paragraphs 3.8.1 to 3.8.3 of IPC-6012, except that no encroachment of solder resist is allowed on 
any surface mount or ball grid lands, and that ALL pad patterns have solder resist slivers between 
individual pads. The height of the solder resist should not cause any mounting problems for 
surface-mount components.

Solder resist data is provided as per IPC-7351 standard, 1:1 with the land size, the manufacturer 
is to  oversize these solder resist openings commensurate with their manufacturing procedures ensuring 
that ALL the above requirements are met, the amount of oversize to take into account the minimum track 
and gap dimensions as shown on the Printed Boards Master Drawing. Solder resist not related to a 
component pad is not to be enlarged.

Things to have in the readme :

Laminate quality can be important particularly if the board is worth reworking. One way to explain this is to look at some quality material. Look at a [1] data sheet. Here is their product selector

Notes about Minimum feature sizes

This is a bit complicated - the size is three numbers H x W x T (where T is line thickness). It is common to see the limit on line thickness 0.100 - 0.125mm[4-5] but the real limit seems to be 0.075mm[3]. What I recommend is not to IPC specification, but if the idea is to have useful information available for trouble shooting and debugging modern SM, then we need to find the limit and the IPC might catch up with us someday. When going smaller One does need a magnifier to read, but one needs a magnifier to see the components as well! (I'm looking through a 7 or 10 power Optivisor or a Stero-zoom anyway! )
Some places will say their LPI is limited to a line width of 0.100mm[4] and with that you can get down to a letter size of about 0.9 x 0.7 x 0.1mm
You can push it by going to 0.075mm[3] line width - and ending up with a 0.8 x 0.9 x 0.075mm
Anything smaller and you might as well leave it off the board and look at an assembly drawing show the detail. That's just the practical side of it. I will use the above with my 1005M[0402]'s, but that seems to be todays limit. I don't care if a few end up unreadable, at least there is a clue with the small ones.
So here is what I suggest - make your library foot-prints with 1.0 x 0.9 x 0.1 mm reference designators and if you have a place where you need something smaller use 0.8 x 0.9 x 0.075mm

If you are using a supper cheap shop that is using obsolete silk screen - you will want to double the size 2.0 x 1.8 x 0.125 mm

Send Off Check List

Pre Gerber

PCB Board houses

Picking a board house depends on what is needed. Cheap boards that have the copper glued on instead of laminated at the same time that they heat cure the epoxy - cheap board traces will come off with just the slightest amount of rework. If they don't spec the Tg of the material, you are getting really cheap junk. Put your favorite place here and add comments - don't delete or reorder other PCB houses with out leaving a good reason on the discussion page or your edit will just get reverted.

E-teknet

The cheapest laminate disappointed me (traces lift if they even see a soldering iron.) - go with the FR406 and 1oz copper. The cheapest laminate could be used for very low cost for things that will never be reworked.

They now offer several laminates and copper thicknesses.

megacircuit.com

They can do very good work - a bit pricey, but they offer good laminate.

eFABPCB

http://www.efabpcb.com Ok to work with

Bittele.com / 7pcb.com

Provides good quality in affordable cost. Uses FR4 Tg170(S1000-2) and FR4(S1141). Complies with IPC600F standard.

A second review: excellent quality, very low cost for small production runs. Typically $300-400 per batch, ~2 weeks to complete. Ships from China, with a business office near Toronto. ENIG, multilayer, heavy copper are all readily available. Also offers turn-key assembly at reasonable rates, with parts ordered from Digikey and similar suppliers. I'm very pleased with their automated SMT assembly, but was not happy with the quality of the more labor-intensive manual assembly of thru-hole PCBs.

Seeed Studio

Located in Hong Kong. Offers single and double sided PCBs with solder mask and silkscreen, a variety of thicknesses and finish colors on quality FR4 material. The quality of the PCBs I've ordered has been as good as anything I've worked with and the price was extremely competitive for small batches of boards. Not particularly fast, takes about a month from submission to receive finished PCBs. Max size offered is 20cm x 20cm.

SINOMICRO PCB

Low Cost PCB Prototype,PCB manufacture,PCB Assembly and PCB Design

OSHPARK

https://www.oshpark.com Formerly known as DorkbotPDX PCB order. Shared PCB orders for hobbyists.

Very good quality. ENIG finish, purple solder mask. Orders in multiple of 3 boards. Cost: 5$ per square inch for 3 boards (2 layers, prototype run). They can do 4 layers and higher volume as well. Free international standard shipping. Shipping times to the EU vary. The longest time I've had to wait for my boards was 6 weeks: about 10 days for fabrication + 4 weeks shipping time including a hefty customs processing delay. Laen (the owner) told me he's working on improving international shipping times to the EU.

BatchPCB

goldphoenixpcb

Haven't used - probably too cheap to be high quality. Taiwan laminate - fails to specify Tg - or IPC-4101C

I used them - they have a Canadian (Oakville Ontario) contact address. I thought the boards (double side, solder mask, silkscreen, about 2 x 3 inch) were pretty good quality, especially given the price. No problem with the boards or assembly, but I didn't have any real small components. Turnaround was a couple weeks. I figure they are like Seeed but more expensive.

Multilayer Technology

Olimex

Taiwan laminate - fails to specify Tg - or IPC-4101C

ellwest-pcb

San Francisco Circuits

PCB Fab Express

Advanced Circuit

Speedy PCB Prototype

AP Circuits

Bare Bones PCB

PCBPro

PCB Express AKA Sunstone

Sierra Proto Express


Technotronix

Sun Stone Circuits

Quick-teck PCBs

- UK based PCB manufacturer,guaranteed delivery date. Online instant quote, reasonable prices.

Custom Circuit Boards

Good USA PCB manufacturer. Fast quick turn prototypes, but you need to have a min lot of a panel. Good selection of board materials with extensive capabilities.

Sinofast

We can produce single-side, double-side, multi-layer, Copper and aluminum-based, flex board PCB, and Printed Circuit Boards assembly. http://www.alpcb.com.cn/

Peakpcb

ShenZhen2U

Instant quote online,really low price but high quantities. Supported panel board and solder paste stencil.

Fast Circuits

IteadStudio

Really cheap prototypes in limited quantities. You get to boards free if is an OpenSource Project. Their quality is not the best but is not bad. As far as my experience they provide relative good support.

Elecrow

Similar to Itead and Seeedstudio, with choice of soldermask colour at no additional cost. Very quick manufacturing, I submitted my files on a Friday evening and the boards were ready by Tuesday morning. (Of course standard registered mail ensured a few weeks before I actually got the boards). They provide good feedback during the process, sending photographs of the completed boards and package before shipping. Quality is as good as that of the other Chinese manufacturers.

Hackvana

I ordered several boards of the cheapest type and all were fine. (As for delivery times, I only tried express shipping, which is more expensive but fast.)

PCB Train

Not the cheapest but always quality and reliable PCBs. Offer a special 24 hour delivery service called 'PCB Train Express' for fast turnaround prototype PCBs.

JOGA PCB

Not the fastest one, but really reasonable combination of price and Quality.

PCBShopper

Not a board house, but a price comparison site for PCB manufacturing. Enter your board's size, number of layers, solder mask and silkscreen options, the quantity you want, and how quickly you want them, and PCBShopper shows you prices from over 20 different manufacturers in China, North America, and Europe.

Stencil houses

Stencils Unlimited

SunStone


Board Stuffers / Assembly House

eCircuits

sales@ecircuitsusa.com Kansascity Area
Lonnie Smith (816)224-6611 ext. 211
Can source parts for turnkey - leaded and noleaded - Surface Mount Technology
Through Hole and SM - Conformal Coating - Potting - Electromechanical Assembly
Box Build - Serial Number Tracking -Full ESD Control -Automated Optical Inspection

Screaming Curcuits

Technotronix

Technotronix is professional PCB Manufacturer in USA offering PCB manufacturing, assembly, fabrication and PCB Prototype service as per customer requirement.

Asian Circuits

4pcbassembly


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