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NC Drill File Questions

David Yackman

I tried to generate an NC Drill file as outlined in the OrCAD PCB Designer Professional documentation.  For some reason, I keep getting two separate drill files.  It appears that one drill file is for plated and the other is for unplated holes.  There is a checkbox option for
"Seperate Files for plated/nonplated holes" which I have made sure is unchecked.

 I generated a NC Drill legend and all of the holes and symbols seem to be in the right spot.  I'm not 100% sure what the two different files are for.  One file is simply is just called "filename".drl and the other is called "filename"-np.drl.

 The board house that makes my prototype PCBs wants just one NC drill file and won't make boards that require two files.  So, how do I get OrCAD to dump all of the drill data into one file?

  • oldmouldy
    There was a recent fix for the plated / non-plated NC files not being generated correctly but this does not sound like that issue but the latest hotfix, s013, might be worthwhile installing. You could also check the ncdpath in Setup>User Preferences, Paths, Config, expand the value and check that "dot", the current directory, is at the top of the list to get the nc_param.txt local to the board used, rather than another location.that has the "seperate" option set.
  • David Yackman

    I verified that I'm using the latest software complete with hotfix s013.  I also checked the ncdpath as described. 

    I sent the gerbers off to my prototype board house and I submitted one of the NC drill files.  I didn't send the *-np.drl file.  I received a DFM report back from the vendor, complete with screen shots of the proposed PCB, and the non-plated holes were shown on their files.  I guess that the non-plated data is being dumped in the regular *.drl file, but OrCAD still makes a seperate drill file for non-plated holes.

  • oldmouldy
    You could see if the database is OK, Tools>Database Check, check all the options and "Check". If the problem persists after that you should get the BRD file to you reseller, or Cadence, and get a support issue raised to get the board database checked thoroughly.
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