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I am sending off a pcb for manufactering, but it would be nice to round off the corners for them to mill off.

How can I make nice rounded corners? I have used the three point arc thing before but I dont really like that...

In what layer should I specify what should be milled off?

EDIT:

I'm also intrested in how to specify a small rectangle (ca 20 x 10 mm) to be milled in the middle of the card?

Reid
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Theodor
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2 Answers2

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In Eagle, the "Dimension" layer represents the perimeter of your board. You can create a new board perimeter by drawing an enclosed shape using the WIRE command to draw a new enclosed polygon. When you draw your lines, you have the option of changing the wire bend to go straight and then arc (option 6 and 7). I used a width of 0 for the shape.

When you go to export the design, you can export the outline separately or on a existing layer. For example, BatchPCB suggests adding the outline to the silkscreen layer, or having a separate outline gerber.

I'll second Kellenjb's comment that not all board houses are thrilled at the idea of arbitrary board shapes, so you may pay extra for the rounding.

W5VO
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    I used the miter tool on the outline rectangle in the dimention layer. That seem to work. Do you also know how to specify a small rectangle (ca 20 x 10 mm) to be milled in the middle of the card? – Theodor Nov 30 '10 at 18:25
  • Unless you are milling the board yourself, you will need to work with your board manufacturer to understand their requirements. I have not seen anyone doing internal routing / cutouts in their basic offerings for free, so you would be getting a quote anyways. You may be able to get away with overlapping drill hits, but no guarantees there, and board houses may not like it. – W5VO Nov 30 '10 at 19:23
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You will need to send the fab house a gerber file of the board outline. It is in this layer that you will want the rounded corners. You might want to see if you can place a rectangle with rounded corners or change an existing rectangle to have rounded corners. I am not sure of the specifics of this in eagle, maybe someone else can help.

Warning though, not all fab houses will do rounded corners without any extra charge. Check this with your fab house.

Kellenjb
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  • Yeah, I've seen that some charge extra. But I'm pretty sure the one I am using do it without extra charge since cards from different people are manufactured in the same batch, they have to mill out the cards anyway, or something like it. – Theodor Nov 30 '10 at 18:23
  • I think that the rectangle in the middle also needs to be covered by the keepout layer – chwi Aug 28 '12 at 06:10
  • @Wilhelmsen What?? We are talking about the board outline here, if you place a keep-out layer, you would be saying to keep out of the entire board. Or what am I misunderstanding. – Kellenjb Aug 28 '12 at 22:13
  • Last time I made a hole for a servo it wasn't enough to just set the outline layer when the fab had to cut out of the middle of the board, I also had to say to keep out if this area, not the rest if the board. I ment that the keepout should only be where the small rectangle in the middle of his PCB which is going to be cut out needed the layer – chwi Aug 29 '12 at 07:15
  • @Wilhelmsen Ah, good catch. I answered this question before he asked about having a hole cut out in the center. – Kellenjb Aug 29 '12 at 11:51