I have a GERBER file downloaded from a MAKE magazine. It loads, but with errors. Can anyone help me to correct them please.
Have you tried to load them into online viewers? GerbView may, or may not, be at fault here.
This works very well for me: https://gerber-viewer.ucamco.com/
What are the errors?
This message repeats 4 times
RS274X: Invalid GERBER format command āDā at line 2: ā%FSDAX23Y23*%ā
GERBER file ā/Users/kltm/Downloads/$tempfile.tmpā may not display as intended.
Then
Error reading EXCELLION drill file
Tool definition shape not found
Tool definition shape not found
Then
Messages
Skipped file ā__MACOSX/._Archiveā (unknown type).
Skipped file āArchive/R-Tronic 8-Bit.infā (unknown type).
Skipped file ā__MACOSX/Archive/._R-Tronic 8-Bit.infā (unknown type).
There are a few non gerber related files there causing some errors:
.tmp
._Archive
.inf
Iāve tried deleting the .inf file, but I canāt identify ._Archive or .tmp
As a new user I am unable to upload the original file unfortunately. Iām not sure Iām allowed to refer to the original url to the download
What do you want to do with these gerber files? Gerber has a long history, and in the beginning there were many incompatible dialects. I do not know how long makezine (I guess you referred to that) exists, or how old that project is. Gerber files are human readable and often contain the name of the software (and version?) that the file is made with. Using an online gerber viewer (as already mentioned by RaptorUK) is indeed also an option. If you just want to manufacture the same PCB, most PCB fabs also have online viewers so you can see whether your file works with their software.
If you want to turn this into a KiCad project, then it does not matter much if some aspects of the file are broken. The most important parts are the tracks and the PCB outline. Quite a while ago I made a tutorial for:
I loaded the gerber file linked to in the above gitlab issue (Closed, from 2023) into the Ucamco viewer, and it appears to be a valid Gerber X1 file. But Iām not sure what the meaning of that is. Iām also not sure about the intended goal of KiCadās own gerber viewer. Is it only for viewing KiCadās own gerbers for inspection, or is it intended to be a more generic Gerber viewer?
http://cdn.makezine.com/makezine/Archive.zip
Hi this is the Gerber file that I cannot seem to correct. I loaded it up to JLCPCB and it seemed to load ok eventually, but they have now come back and said āthere are no top and bottom solder masks. Iāve tried recreating the schematic in kicad, but even that doesnāt help. I changed the filenames as advised by JLCPCB (gb0 to GKO) etc.
Iāve no idea what else to try. Can anyone else help please.
On itself, this question is a bit out of scope for KiCad, as itās not a KiCad projectā¦
Opening the gerber files in KiCad:
Looks like the R-Tronic 8-Bit.gb2 file is the top solder mask, and I do not see a bottom solder mask layer, but it is also a single layer PCB, and you could argue about what is the top or the bottom.
You can create a KiCad project from this with: Gerber Viewer / File / Export to PCB Editor. You wrote you already entered the schematic in KiCad. You can combine these to make it a complete KiCad project, and then create a new set of gerber files. I already posted a link to a tutorial on how to do this a few posts back. This is a fairly simple project, and itās all quite doable, but it will take some time, especially if you also have to learn how to use KiCad along the way.
Pretty important argument to have and get right . . . not nice, or even possible sometimes, to solder through hole components from the component side. The OP Needs to figure this out . . .