Gerber import to Fusion 360 and milling from it

[Anonymous]

Hello there! 
Today I faced this trouble while working on project - there is no way to import gerber file to manufacture it using fusion CAM module. 
Why inegrate whole electronics module to F360 with no way to direct import and manufacture PCBs from other programms (Altium in my case).

Or am I missing some functions? maybe in next update?

[edwin.robledo]

Hi hellsseven,

Thank you for posting on the Fusion 360 Electronics forum. As you have discovered we have limited capacity of importing files made by other application or Gerber files at this time. From the PCB editor we do have a ULP that will be able to import a basic 274x format of Gerber files. This is intended to only be used as a template for the PCB. If you sign in to library.io you will be able to use the online library converter that works for OrCAD and Altium libraries. Expanding the import capabilities of Fusion 360 to other electronics file format is being considered and will be added in time. 

Best Regards,

Ed

[engineeringNCMXB]

PCB isolation routing is a unique CAM process that Fusion 360 CAM would not be the best choice IMHO. Even if you could import the gerber data, it is going to be a fiddly process. I use Fusion 360 CAM daily for 3-7 axis milling and mill-turn as well as designing electronics including PCB layout.

Something dedicated like http://flatcam.org/  or similar take gerbers and create CAM data optimized for PCB prototyping is likely a better option for this very specialized process.

[RichardHammerl · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

I see this post is frequently read here in the Forum and I would like to add a comment...

Basically Fusion Electronics has an import for Gerber data. As Edwin wrote in his initial answer, the import function is limited to basic Extended Gerber RS-274X format and mainly used to import simple templates for a PCB design.

As I understand your post, you wanted to import your Altium design files into Fusion and mill out the PCB board afterwards, right? As Edwin already wrote, there is no direct import of Altium schematics or boards into Fusion. But you could try to export in Altium the so-called ACCELL-ASCII format from your board/schematic. I am not 100% sure how this export option is called, but it is something like Pads Ascii format or the like....

If this is done, you could use an User Language Programm named import-accel.ulp and bring the design into Fusion Electronics. If this worked, please check your board thoroughly.

Now you save your design in Fusion and use the milling path to get your board milled. There is a nice video post that describes how this works in Fusion 360. 

Link to Milling out a PCB in Fusion 

Regards,

[4ckatro]

Any update on this?

" we have limited capacity of importing files made by other application or Gerber files at this time" 4 years has passed since this comment. 

I make gerber files with EAGLE, then send it to a PCB fabrication company. They make a panelized design and send back gerber data. I do not find any option to open these gerber files easily in EAGLE or Fusion360... I have Kicad installed as well which has built in gerber viewer. It takes approx. 2 sec to load the gerber file. The ULP script in eagle or fusion loads the gerber in ~3-5 minutes... Sometimes it runs to error. Why is that? Will you improve this in the future?

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @4ckatro,

A viewer is one thing but being able to import and edit is a different thing. We definitely want to improve this in the future. 

Thank you for the feedback.

Best Regards,

[3dprint_selbu]

I just popped on this thread after searching for this specific subject. I am having the same kind of problem. 

I have a Gerber file from a client which contains among all the data, a file with a routed track for milling Small PCB's out of a larger panel. I would like to use that file as a basis for creating a 3D model. 

The plan is that I will create a Jig for holding this specific PCB in one of our factory tools, and being able to import the Gerber file for the milling, and use that as a template for creating a 3D model would be helpful. 

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @3dprint_selbu,

So what I would do in this case is import the gerber file into a 2D PCB and then from there generate the 3D PCB for milling purposes. You can import gerbers in the 2D PCB by using the import-gerber.ulp that comes with Fusion 360.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[replyT8AGF]

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