Help to make a single side board

[Ismael Carelli]

Hi!

  I found this program on Google and it's working fine with my drill files.

  Now I want to mill the bottom side of a board but I can't find how to drill and mill the board in mirror.

  I am using KiCad to Plot Gerber files.

[]'s

Ismael

[jpcaram]

Hi Ismael,

You can mirror a Gerber object as explained in section 4.4 of the manual.

Unfortunately there is no way to mirror an Excellon object. l will include that feature in the next release (Alpha 3).

In the meantime, you can drill from the top, turn around you board and mill the (mirrored) bottom side.

Thanks for pointing that out. I've been getting too used to making surface mount boards, sol I always have a top side and optionally a bottom side, so I always drill from the top.

Cheers,

JP

[jpcaram]

Ismael,

FlatCAM does not have the feature to mirror drill files yet. Anyway, if you
want to avoid losing the alignment you have to drill alignment holes (where
you can put pins when you turn the board around). FlatCAM will help you
with that. It might be good practice for when you want to make a 2-side
board. I've done it and the alignment is almost perfect. I will add the
mirror feature for drills in the next release, but don't be scared by the
process I just described. It's really simple and quick. I use paper clips
as pins and drill 1mm alignment holes.

Oh, please post your replies on the discussion board next time so others
can benefit from our conversation!

Thanks,

JP


On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 7:33 AM, Ismael...

> Hi JP!
>
> I am trying to avoid turn around the board and miss the aligment.
>
> I can export a mirror Excellon file from Kicad, but I can't manage to
> mirror the Gerber
> and import the Excellon.
>
> See attached files.
>
> []'s
> Ismael
>