gEDA-user: fabrication drawing -- how to modify, or create an alternate fab drawing

[Stuart Brorson]

Hi --

> I have just completed design and layout of my first full-scale board and
> I am about ready for the fabrication step.  My experience with the gEDA
> tools and PCB has been relatively painless so far, and the resulting
> schematic and gerbers look impressive and very professional.

Glad to hear it!

> However the default fabrication drawing output from PCB is minimal and
> essentially just a drill drawing.  I would like to add the other
> essential standard fabrication information, such as the stack-up figure,
> board material, plating specification, finish, registration spec, etc.
>
> Can this be done using PCB, and if so what is the best way to do it?  Is
> there a layer that can be defined for this purpose, or maybe some
> keywords and  text can be added to the .pcb file?

In the past, I have exported .png or .pdf files from PCB, and then
embedded the fab drawing as an object into a SolidWorks drawing.  Then
I have added all the other shrubbery required for a professional fab
drawing.

I have done the same thing with Visio, too.  You could use any drawing
package which imports .png or .pdf.

PCB doesn't do nice looking fab drawings right now.

Stuart