Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1417991
OCTOBER 2021 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 15 semantically compatible with X2. Even if you have an old Extended Gerber reader, you'll still be able to read the components and derive some information. If you have an X2, you derive more information out of it. Of course, if you need component-specific functionality, you need to implement it. But for the reading and writing implementation, you do nothing. Anybody that has an X3 file can see it using the online viewer we have, and you see the com- ponent information. e component informa- tion was added with a lot of support and prod- ding from Eurocircuits. e third step added was the Gerber job file, a separate file that contains the finishes, IPC- class, the thickness of the material stackup, etc. Its spec is a separate document, less than 20 pages. is job file is needed because the information, like finishes, is typically not even contained in the CAD system. It's somewhere in the ERP system written in Excel files or others. Adding this information deeply into a complicated image format makes no sense, because the people who write or read that information are ERP programmers, not CAD programmers. ey can read files like the job file, and they are willing to read a 20-page spec. But if you are going to give them a 1,000-page spec pack describing all image files, etc., to wrestle through, they're not going to do it. I have people who have implemented and used Gerber job files internally because it's a con- venient format to describe materials. is has been implemented by ERP programmers who have never seen a Gerber file in their lives and probably wish to die before they ever must. So, in its current state, the Gerber format is complete. I think it contains everything that is needed for manufacturing, although not for design. Surely there will be things that aren't in the Gerber file that are in an ODB file, and vice versa. I mean, there will be a difference in the details, but all the major stuff is there. e benefit of Gerber is that it's done in a com- patible manner. It's easy to understand. e Gerber file is an easy thing to implement. You can make PCBs with Gerber and ODB, and you probably can make PCBs with DPMX, but that's not the point. e benefit of Gerber is simplicity and compatibility. A lot happened in the last 20 years. Shaughnessy: Dirk, tell us about your point of view on Gerber as a fabricator. Dirk Stans: We deal with a lot of prototypes and small series. Our job is making parts for many, many thousands of customers. We have about 12,000 active customers in Europe, and these customers have almost 20,000 active users using our system. ese people, of course, use a big, big range of different CAD systems. We have a section about Gerber on our website explaining the history, through the latest for- mat and all the benefits of it. It is that informa- tion that we take to designers who are using CAD systems. In a CAD system, you think in electrical functionalities. On the other hand, the manu- facturer is working with a CAM system, and he thinks from the mechanical side, "Can I make this?" ere is a big discrepancy between those two worlds. You need to somehow bring Dirk Stans