NC Tool Table - LAB

Before proceeding with this step note the relative sizes of the “holes” in the Work Area display on the NC Drill layers (14,15 & 16)


Open NC Tool Table from the Tables pull down menu.


First, set the units to Millimeters. 
(Note that the Size column still indicates Mil – disregard)


Enter the Drill Sizes and Usage into the table. 
Refer to the layer definitions in the Readme text file in the Gerber file directory for drill tool sizes and plating.


Use the Tool Table pull down menu to change between Tables for the 3 Drill layers.


Click OK to exit the NC Tool Table menu.


What does the Work Area display for layers 14 15 & 16 look like now?


Save your work using File/Save.

NC Tool Table - Video

Watch a demonstration of the PADS Drill Macro here:

NC Tool Table

The NC Tool Table contains drill sizes.
Get to the NC tool table from the Tables pull down menu.

There will be a Tool Table that corresponds to each NC Drill layer.
This happens automatically when the files are auto-imported.

In this case there is a table for each layer set. (drill pair).



To enter drill sizes in a table:

1. Select the desired table from the Tool Table pull down menu.
2. Set the units as desired.
3. Enter the drill size in the Size column (Note that the column headingremains as Mils even though millimeters are set as Dialog units).Refer to the Drill Report for the drill tool sizes.
4. Set the Usage checkbox to indicate holes are Plated or Unplated. 
5. Do steps 1 through 3 for each drill set table.

For PowerPCB and Allegro users there are also macros available that will automatically load the Tool Table. The macro will not, however, work with multiple drill sets.

Instead of entering the NC drill sizes manually as described earlier in this section use the Macro pull-down menu to select and run the Pads Drill macro.

The next blog post will demonstrate the use of the Pads drill macro.