How to Generate Gerber, Drill Files and Centroid File From Eagle 9.6.2

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of creating Gerber files and drill files from an Autodesk Eagle 9.6.2 CAD project. Gerber files are essential for PCB manufacturing, while drill files help define where holes need to be drilled in the board. This guide assumes you already have a basic understanding of Eagle CAD.

Generating Gerber, Drill Files, and Centroid Files (PnP Files)

To get started:

1. Open the Control Panel in Eagle by clicking on the “Control” tab, then select “File” > “Open” > “Board.” Choose the .brd file you wish to work with. For this tutorial, we’ll use the Arduino MEGA2560 reference board provided by Eagle.
2. Once you’ve opened the board file, a PCB layout window will appear, showing your design. It should look something like the image below:



3. Next, click on the CAM Processor button located on the toolbar (the one with no green arrow), or navigate to “File” > “CAM Processor.”

Tips: Before exporting Gerber files, it’s highly recommended to run a Design Rule Check (DRC) to ensure there are no errors in your design that could cause issues during manufacturing.





4. After opening the CAM Processor, click on the document icon next to the CAM file name, then select “Load CAM jobs” > “Examples.” From here, choose the appropriate CAM job for your design. Since we’re working with a two-layer board, we’ll select “example_2_layer.cam.”



5. On the right-hand side, use the Gerber previewer to inspect the data exported for each layer of the Gerber files. Make sure everything looks correct. Once satisfied, check the “Export as ZIP” option and click “Process Job” to continue.

Important Note: Ensure the “Negative Image” checkbox is unchecked, as highlighted by the red box in the following image:



This action will generate a ZIP folder containing all the necessary Gerber files for your PCB.



If you’d like to see what’s inside the ZIP folder, simply right-click on it and extract all the files.



With these steps completed, you’ve now successfully generated Gerber and drill files using Eagle 9.6.2. The centroid file (PnP file) can be found in the Assembly folder.

Previewing Gerber Files Using PCBWay Online Viewer

Once you’ve exported the Gerber and drill files, you can use the PCBWay Online Gerber Viewer to preview your designs:

For more information about the PCBWay Online Gerber Viewer, refer to the article titled "Finally, PCBWay’s Long-Awaited Online Gerber Viewer is Now Available."