4 Replies Latest reply on Jun 19, 2018 12:13 PM by Lee Havens

    why is my exported bottom layer , turned into 3 layers

    Lee Havens
    Lee Havens May 29, 2018 4:29 PM

      Good Evening,

       

               I am currently having an issue with one layer of the gerber’s outputs. I can export all layers but the bottom copper lay (which has polygon pours). I know it works because I tried it on a different program then I typically use (cam350 7.5), in Lavenir and it cam in as 3 layers. The first layer was the polygon pour outlines, the next was a origin box (I believe) and last was all my traces and pads. No sure why the exported file is so messed up. I am pretty sure it has something to do with my polygon pours because all other layers of the board work properly. Any thoughts or helpful hints? Anyone have any helpful hints?

       

      With warm regard & appreciation,

      Lee Havens

        • Re: why is my exported bottom layer , turned into 3 layers
          Injy Gadalla
          Injy Gadalla Employee May 29, 2018 5:04 PM (in response to Lee Havens)

          Hello Lee,

           

          That is an interesting behavior especially with just one layer. Could you please try the following and see if it exports correctly:

          first - copy/paste the bottom polygon to another PCB, and in the original PCB, delete the polygon from the bottom layer, export Gerber and see if it shows as one layer

          second- go back to PCB, copy the polygon back to the bottom layer, but this time Unpour the bottom polygon and export and see if it exports as one or 3 layers.

           

          Best Regards,

          Injy Gadalla

          Territory Technical Manager, SOLIDWORKS PCB

          • Re: why is my exported bottom layer , turned into 3 layers
            Lee Havens
            Lee Havens May 30, 2018 9:59 AM (in response to Lee Havens)

            Good Morning Injy Gadalla,

             

                     Let me just start by saying thank you for taking the time to help and it is greatly appreciated. So i tried both ideas and this is what happened. When i copy the polygon pours to a new blank board it works as i would expect it too and creates only one layer. But when i turn off the polygon pours it has no affect on the change to the bottom layers outputs. This leads me to believe it is not in the polygon pours. Also another thing i found, when i added some text strings to the bottom layer (forgot to label my board), it show them with the outline of the polygon pour layer instead of with my traces and pads on the 3 layer split from the bottom layer. Not sure what is causing this separation, any more ideas that could spark ideas?

             

            With warm regard & appreciation,

            Lee Havens

              • Re: why is my exported bottom layer , turned into 3 layers
                Injy Gadalla
                Injy Gadalla Employee May 31, 2018 1:16 AM (in response to Lee Havens)

                Hello Lee,

                Thank you for your kind words . I am here to help!

                Without examining the PCB file  it's really hard to tell what might went wrong . May be the bottom layer got corrupted ? Can you try adding another layer copy all the content from the bottom to the new layer and generate gerber to see if it the new layer exhibits the same behavior as the bottom . We can also start with process of elimination , delete all the objects from bottom and see if it still generate 3 layers ? If not , then add half of the bottom layer objects and see if the issue occurs . We try to see if we can narrow it down to an object or the layer somehow got corrupted.

                 

                You can always submit a support ticket through your VAR and let me know and I can internally track it down.

                 

                Regards!

                 

                Injy Gadalla

                  • Re: why is my exported bottom layer , turned into 3 layers
                    Lee Havens
                    Lee Havens Jun 19, 2018 12:13 PM (in response to Injy Gadalla)

                    Good Afternoon Injy Gadalla,

                     

                            So after some deep research, It was found that my font choice was causing the separation of the top layer. Not sure how or way it would affect the top layer and not just the legend (silk screen layer) but my next step is to figure out what font is safe. Then again it could all be just a glitch, not sure what will avoid this issue just yet. I will update this post with my findings after more work has been created, very new to this software as well as board layout and design. I do thank you for all the assistance with trying to help me with this anomaly.

                     

                    Warm Regards,

                    Lee Havens