Drill map question

Manufacturing
#1

I have my layout all done and am creating the various fabrication and assembly files.

If I select File > Plot, and then click Generate Drill Files…, I am take to the the Generate Drill Files dialog.

If I set Map File Format to PDF and click Generate Map File and then open up the PDF, all I see is a table of all the different drill sizes used by my layout and the various representative symbols for each drill size.

However, if I set Map File Format to Gerber and click Generate Map File and then open up the Gerber in Gerbview for example, I get this same table with all the different drill sizes used by my layout with the various representative symbols for each drill size in the upper left corner and I also get the outline of my PCB with all the drill size symbols placed at all the correct drill locations.

I am wondering if this is a bug, or by design, or am I missing something? I would have expected that the PDF version would look the same as the Gerber version, just in a different file format.

I’m using KiCAD (5.1.6)-1.

Thanks!

#2

Map file is meant to be informal and human readable, it’s not a work file for CAM. It doesn’t matter much if it’s different.

#3

I just outputted the table to pdf and it appears like the GERBER

foo
foo1919×1060 165 KB

#4

Odd, this is what I get:

Gerber on the left, PDF on the right:

image
image1321×734 67.3 KB

It’s not a real biggie because of course I can print the Gerber version to PDF, it was just an unexpected result.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that the KiCAD dialog doesn’t give you a way to set the PDF page size? In my case, the PCB data is located a good distance to the right from where it wants to put the drill chart. I used an A2 page size and the upper right corner of the drill chart is at 0, 0 and the lower left corner of my PCB is at around 400mm, 300mm.

Thanks for your reply.

#5

I also made a drill map file in pdf format and it looks just fine:
Similar to Naib’s screenshot, with a table of drill sizes under the PCB.

The current stable KiCad is version V5.1.8 and there have been quite some bug fixes since V5.1.6. Maybe this is one of them.