How to Generate Gerber and Drill Files in Autodesk Eagle?

There’s no greater reward than spending hours designing every last detail of your PCB and then finally getting your board back from your manufacturer. The wait can seem like an eternity when you first hand-off your design files, but when you receive that package on your doorstep, it’s like an engineer’s Christmas!

But the manufacturer can’t use your native EAGLE files. You’ll have to send them Gerber Files and Excellon Drill Files.

Generating Gerber Files

Autodesk EAGLE includes a handy computer-aided manufacturing processor that allows you to load a CAM file and quickly generate the specific files you need for your design. In this example, I’m going to load up the Gerber RS-274X CAM file. And here’s how to do this:

1. Open your PCB layout (Board) file.

2. Select the CAM Processor tool at the top of your interface or select File » CAM Processor

3. Now select Load Job File » Local CAM Jobs » gerb274x.cam .

4. Then select the Process Job button to create all of your Gerber files.

And that’s it! Just one simple press of a button and all of the Gerber files you need to send to your manufacturer have been created for you. But wait…

Generating Drill Files

While the Gerber files you just generated contain all of the details a manufacturer needs to know about your individual layers, what they don’t include is information about your drill holes. What you need now is a file that will specify the location and size of each of your drill holes. Luckily the process for making this file in Autodesk EAGLE is just as easy as making Gerbers. And here’s how:

1. Select the CAM Processor tool at the top of your interface or select File » CAM Processor

2. Now select Load Job File » local cam jobs » and excellon.cam

3. You’ll now have a single “Generate drill data” tab available, which will grab the data for Drills and Holes, just what you need. Select the Process Job button to generate this file.