Circuit boards live and die by their manufacturing files. Without complete and accurate information, the board fab house can’t fab the boards, the assembly house can’t assemble your boards and nobody can buy the parts.

Our old standard, the Gerber file, has been around since about the time King Arthur pulled the inductor out of the solder pot. It’s old. We all use it because it’s familiar, but it’s day is done. It’s time to pass the torch.

IPC-2581 is the new standard in manufacturing files. It hasn’t been fully adopted, but it’s showing up in more and more CAD packages. The IPC-2581 format is much more advanced and has the complete data set in one file. While we still work with Gerbers every day, we can also accept IPC-2581 manufacturing files.

I’ve been called the champion of bad analogies, but I’ll try one out anyway.

Imagine, if you will, a map of the city. All of the streets are there. All of the houses are there. What’s missing are all of the street names. No street names, no numbers and no landmarks of any sort are labeled.

Given that information, find John Smith, at 1620 SW 14th Avenue. There is a house at 1620 SW 14th Avenue. There are a dozen or so houses at 1620 something. You just don’t know where 14th is, or which direction 14th runs, or where the street numbering starts.

You can physically walk each and every street until you find John’s name on his mailbox, but it’s not an easy nor error-safe process. And, hopefully, the town only has one John Smith. That’s a Gerber file.

IPC-2581, on the other hand, is an electronic map, with everything clearly labeled, and a GPS guiding you. Which would give you more confidence?

Duane Benson
IPC-2581 is like shatter-proof glasses for Henry Bemis

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/