> i am wondering if there is an easy way to merge two completed board
designs
> (so as to have them manufactured as one board). i have designed two
> smallish (2" x 4") boards that are designed to be connected to one another
> and stacked. i currently have two separate protel layouts for the two
> boards and i was wondering if i could somehow merge them into one set of
> gerber files so i could have the two boards built as one big board which i
> could then cut in half. each board is six layers, on one of the boards 4
> layers are power planes and on the other 2 are power planes and two are
> internal signal layers. anyone have any advice on how to do this/whether
> its possible? maybe i could somehow merge the completed gerber files
> outside of protel? or maybe convert the power plane layers into signal
> layers with big polygon pours on them and somehow merge the files within
> protel?
>
> -rimas
I have seen and read Ian Wilson's response to your question. I have had some
experience in merging different PCBs into the same (panel) PCB using Protel,
though my recollections are that *most* of these jobs were done using AdvPcb
2.8 (in which Design Rules are far less problematic when doing this than is
the case for more recent versions of Protel). My verdict about doing this is
that it is possible to do this for some PCBs (but not all), but whether it
is desirable or worthwhile is quite another matter.
As such, I would not recommend it unless you have a high degree of
familiarity with using Protel, *and* have taken steps to minimise the
liklihood of muck-ups. And even if you don't preview Gerber and NC files as
a matter of course (though I strongly recommend that you do), you should
certainly do so when creating *any* type of panellised PCB file (*including*
cases of panellised PCBs which contain an array of *just* the *same* unit
PCB).
I understand that it is possible to use Camtastic to create a panellised PCB
from Gerber files and NC Drill files, but I have not had cause to ever do so
to date. But I strongly suspect that there would be many cases where doing
this would be far preferable to creating a panellised PCB using Protel.
And in all cases where you are incorporating *different* PCBs into the same
panel, each of these PCBs should use the same layer stackup. So the layer
immediately below the top copper layer should be a signal layer for both/all
of the PCBs concerned, or a power plane layer for both/all of the PCBs
concerned. And similarly for all the remaining internal copper layers.
Naturally, both/all of the PCBs concerned also need to incorporate the same
number of layers, so any PCBs which would otherwise use a smaller number of
layers need to have their design modified accordingly.
Regards,
Geoff Harland.
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