Applied Parameters: CommandMode=NC
Summary
This command is used to place horizontal drill text on the current document.
Access
This command is accessed from the CAMtastic Editor by choosing the Place » Drill » Drill Text (M97, M98) command from the main menus.
Use
First, ensure that the layer you wish to place drill text on, is the active layer. This is achieved by double-clicking on the layer name in the layers list area of the CAMtastic panel.
After launching the command, the Select Mill/Drill Tool dialog will appear. Choose the tool you wish to use for drilling the text from the list of available tools. After clicking OK, you will enter text placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:
- Position the cursor at the required location in the workspace and click to determine the insertion point for the text (its lower-left corner).
- The Drill Text dialog appears. Use this dialog to enter the text to be drilled, and also to specify the text height and orientation (by default, this command places text horizontally, but you can change orientation to vertical from this dialog). After clicking OK, the drill text will be placed.
- Continue placing further drill text or right-click, or press Esc, to exit text placement mode.
Tips
- In order for this command to be available, make sure that you are in the NC Editor, rather than the CAM Editor. Editor selection is carried out from the View menu.
- In order to add drill text, tools must already have been defined, otherwise you will get a dialog alerting you to this fact and you will be directed to the Tool Table dialog, from where you can add tool definitions.
- The fastest way to generate tools is to generate NC Drill files from the PCB design document. These are imported into the CAMtastic Editor, and the tool definitions added to the Tool Table dialog.
- Letters of the text are actually drilled in a standard grid dot matrix pattern, with the hole spacing determined in relation to the tool diameter you have specified. You will notice when adding drill text that small white circles are visible inside the lettering. These circles represent the size of the hole that will be drilled using the tool that you selected.