#213 unable to load drill file

[Rainer Bayer]

gerbv is unable to load the following drill file:

;LEADER: 12 
;HEADER: 
;CODE  : ASCII 
;FILE  : test.brd ... layers TOP and BOTTOM
;   Holesize 1. = 23.622047 Tolerance = +3.937008/-1.968504 PLATED MILS Quantity = 23
;   Holesize 2. = 35.433071 Tolerance = +3.937008/-1.968504 PLATED MILS Quantity = 22
;   Holesize 3. = 78.740157 Tolerance = +3.937008/-1.968504 PLATED MILS Quantity = 5
;   Holesize 4. = 98.425197 Tolerance = +3.937008/-0.000000 PLATED MILS Quantity = 8
%
G90
X-00016Y01325
R19Y-00050
X00927Y01622
R02X-00049
M00
X00868Y01357
X00480Y01357
X00096Y01370
X01114Y00594
X00232Y00595
X00677Y00594
X00236Y01323
X00622Y01307
X01008Y01307
X01008Y01407
X00228Y00736
X01307Y00736
X00736Y00047
X00236Y01407
X00622Y01407
X01114Y00736
X00425Y00736
X00673Y00736
X00866Y00736
X00091Y01441
X00480Y01457
X00866Y01457
M00
X00492Y01583
X00673Y01583
X01283Y01409
X00906Y00110
X00476Y00110
M00
X01110Y01610
X01265Y01610
X00270Y01610
X00115Y01610
X01110Y00085
X00115Y00085
X00270Y00085
X01265Y00085
M30

the corresponding drill log file contains the following information:

Processing NC Parameters file ...

 NC PARAMETERS
 -------------

 FORMAT         2.3
 MACHINE-OFFSET     x:0.000000  y:0.000000
 FEEDRATE       1
 COORDINATES        ABSOLUTE
 OUTPUT-UNITS       ENGLISH
 TOOL-ORDER     INCREASING
 REPEAT-CODES       YES
 SUPPRESS-LEAD-ZEROES   NO
 SUPPRESS-TRAIL-ZEROES  NO
 SUPPRESS-EQUAL     NO
 TOOL-SELECT        NO
 HEADER         none
 LEADER         12
 CODE           ASCII
 SEPARATE       NO
 OPTIMIZE_DRILLING  NO
 ENHANCED_EXCELLON  NO
 SCALE          1.000000

is there any information about the expected contents of the drl file?

yours sincerely,
rb

[Sergey Alyoshin]

This file does not start with M48 command as Excellon drill file should:

https://web.archive.org/web/20071030075236/http://www.excellon.com/manuals/program.htm

Maybe because of this in log file there is a line "HEADER none".

With which program this file was generated?

[Dan Sheadel]

I happen to know this bug: It was generated with ORCAD, which defaults to non-standard nc drill file. During drill export, ORCAD can be coerced to produce a correct file with two output options: "Enhanced Excellon" and "Auto Tool Change". When those options are used GerbV and other viewers can correctly handle the file without issue.

It can also be procedurally fixed with a script, but it's probably out of scope for GerbV to do so. This involves

• Pulling the tool IDs and sizes from the comment
• Setting a tool size header callout
• Verifying all drill sizes use the indicated unit (it's possible to have mixed metric and inches)
• Iterating over the file and converting G90 to T01, and M00 to T02, T03... etc.