OK, I have 2 different PCB designs I want to combine in to one panel (16xxx70mm + 16mmx27mm).
I have combined the 2 PCBs into one PCB, separated by stamp holes. My questions is how do you combined the individual Gerber files into a single file that the fab house (JLCPCB) can handle. I tried the utility Panelizer but that was a problem for JLCPCB.
Any suggestions? Thanks. Dan
There are a couple of ways to do it…
Prior to CNC Milling my own boards, I segmented (panelized) them as shown below. I never had a problem from a Fab House as long as I provided a drawing with clear info/dimensions.
For small PCB’s they never charged me extra (in USA). I asked them for the Minimum spacing (kerf) between PCB’s so they could use typical EndMill Bit.
Naturally, the Info on drawing should indicate it’s OK to have Radius’d corners (unless technology has Square Bits… 
I no longer need to do it this was as my CNC software has a Tab feature to do it.
Finalise both pcbs in each project
Open a new blank project
Cut and paste each pcb into the new blank project. create a new edge cuts definition to include both
Ensure you prevent any infills from rebuilding , as you’ve no net information.
Build the Gerbers in thd normal way.
I’ve used the panelizer from this tool suite in the past: https://github.com/ThisIsNotRocketScience/GerberTools
I used it to combine Gerbers from two instances of the same board, but there is no reason to believe it wouldn’t work on heterogenous boards.
It’s written in C# so I could only get a particular version to work with Mono on Linux but I haven’t followed development for a couple of years so maybe those problems are fixed in recent releases. If you use Windows, then C# is expected to work.
PS: The individual Gerbers sets must pass any fab checks on their own. If JLCPCB doesn’t handle Gerber X2 format, then each of the boards must not be generated with X2 enabled.
Thanks for the feed back. Could you clarify this. So I would plot/drill Gerbers for the new combined PCB, NOT for the individual PCBs. Have I got that right?
Thanks for the help. Dan
yes correct , just cut and paste in the two boards, draw a new edge.cuts to incorporate both board and or a V-cut to sperate them , and then plot the whole thing asa single set of gerbers
dont allow the infills ( if you have any) to rebuild as they will disconnect themselves from pads as there is no NET information ) This is important as Fabrication normally looks to rebuild infills
Dave
Dave, thanks for the clarification. Dan
Before you start CNC milling of the PCB you can panelize the PCBS GERBERS into one panel and you will get a combined PCB from two different GERBERS. Can you see the process of panelization here:
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