Altium Designer – Generating Gerber Files

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Altium Designer – Generating Gerber Files

    by Terri Miller » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:52 pm

Altium Designer – Generating Gerber Files

Question: How do I generate Gerber Files using Altium Designer?

With your .pcb file opened in Altium Designer, choose File > Fabrication Outputs > Gerber Files...

And the Gerber Setup window will open. On the “General” tab, confirm that ‘Inches’ is chosen for Units and ‘2:4’ is chosen for Format. Then click on the “Layers” tab to make active so we can modify the settings.

With the “Layers” tab active, click on Plot Layers on the bottom left side of the window. Choose “All On” from the drop down box to turn all layers on. This will generate all Gerber layers saved in the .pcb. Do NOT check any Mechanical layers to be Added to all Plots (upper right hand corner of window). Adding mechanical layers to copper layers can cause shorting and most likely a nonfunctional design. Choose OK to close window and generate Gerber files.

*Note: Refer to the Layers tab information; the file extensions are listed under ‘Layers to Plot.’ This information will help when mapping layers during the Sunstone order process.

The Gerber files generated will now reside in the folder where the .pcb file originated. Close Altium Designer by clicking on the red ‘X’ in the upper right hand corner. You will be prompted to save the CAMtastic files; since these files are not needed for manufacturing at Sunstone, you can choose “Save None” and OK to close.

If you need to save the CAMtastic.Cam file, choose “Save All” or “Save Selected” to save files.

Review the layer extension list in the Gerber Setup window to enter layers needed for your Sunstone .pcb. If you need help with this, do not hesitate to contact us. You can also reply here and we will do our best to assist you.
Altium-File-Fabrication Outputs.jpg
Altium Designer - Generate Gerber Files _File Fabrication Outputs
Altium-File-Fabrication Outputs.jpg (75.98 KiB) Viewed 25142 times
Altium - Gerber Setup_General Tab.jpg
Altium Designer Gerber Setup Window - General Tab
Altium - Gerber Setup_General Tab.jpg (41.51 KiB) Viewed 25142 times
Altium - Layers Tab.jpg
Altium Designer Layers Tab & Sunstone Extensions
Altium - Layers Tab.jpg (51.21 KiB) Viewed 25142 times
Attachments
Altium - Save CAMtastic Files.jpg
Altium Designer Save CAMtastic Files
Altium - Save CAMtastic Files.jpg (24.84 KiB) Viewed 25142 times
Regards,

Terri Miller
Sunstone Circuits
13626 S. Freeman Road
Mulino, OR 97042
Phone: 800-228-8198
Fax: 503-829-6657
Terri Miller
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:00 am

Re: Altium Designer – Generating Gerber Files

    by Sal Hernandez » Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:48 am

Regards,

Sal Hernandez
Software Support Engineer I
Sunstone Circuits
13626 S. Freeman Road
Mulino, OR 97042
Phone: 503-829-9108 x226
Fax: 503-829-5482
Sal Hernandez
 
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:00 am




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