To produce your board we use your design data in Gerber or EAGLE format and first perform the necessary front end actions as described in our white paper: “What do PCB fabricators do with your data before they make your PCBs?“.

When this is done and your board is ready for production, we save your board’s production data in your account. This data we call the job’s “single image” data. “Single image” means the data we load onto our order-pooling production multi-panels, so it may refer to a single circuit image or to a delivery panel if this is what you have ordered. This is the data that is visualized in the PCB image. You can download the full set from within your customer account.

 


The download of the single image production data from the Eurocircuits site has been possible since we launched our e-business platform more than 10 years ago. This open business policy has convinced customers over the years to come to us for their prototypes and small series even if they planned to have their large series produced in the Far East. We offer a fast and convenient way to calculate prices and place orders, a thorough data verification and manufacturability analysis and highly professional production processes. Combine this with the possibility to download the verified data and use it for production wherever else you want, and you have the best possible start for the life cycle of your products.

The single image files are name coded by Eurocircuits. But this is no secret either. Let us explain what the files are and what their names stand for.

file name convention.docx

 

The format of the files is mainly DPF. This is the internal format for UCAM, the front-end data preparation or CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) system we use designed and developed by Ucamco. The paste files can also be downloaded as Gerber data. To read DPF files as well as Gerber data and Excellon drill files we recommend GC-Prevue, available as a free download from www.graphicode.com.

We are sometimes asked if it possible to reload the single image data back into a CAD system. This is totally dependent on the CAD system. We have only input and processed manufacturing data. Other PCB manufacturers can use it for production through their own CAM systems. However the manufacturing data doesn’t contain any component information like foot-print coordinates or a functional net-list where nets are linked to component pin numbers and are described as power, ground, data line, etc… A successful reload of DPF or Gerber production data into a CAD system depends entirely on the functionality available in the CAD-system and should be investigated there.

Our team will gladly answer any queries you may have. Contact us on euro@eurocircuits.com.