Fabrication bundles
Updated v2.6.1At a glance
- Prepare generic, JLCPCB or PCBWay fabrication and assembly output from one frozen board state
- Gerber X2, drill, BOM, placement, drawings, notes and optional STEP receive exact hashes
- The preview independently parses the generated files before delivery
- Deliver the same reviewed bytes as a ZIP, atomic folder or selected individual files
- Supplier upload keeps the shop's files (Gerber ZIP, BOM, placement) apart from your records
- Rotated pads carry their rotation in their own shape, so every board house reads them correctly
- Blocking checks, stale data and partial selections cannot be labeled fabrication-ready
Open Output → Fabrication Bundle… after routing, copper fill, physical connectivity, DRC and pin verification are current.
What gets prepared
The manufacturing compiler writes Gerber X2 copper, mask, paste, silkscreen and board-profile files (silkscreen text uses the same font the board view shows); plated and non-plated XNC/Excellon drill files; routed slots; and a Gerber Job file. Assembly adds a physical BOM, placement data, top/bottom assembly and drill drawings, schematic PDF, fabrication notes, sourcing report and optional populated-board STEP.
Generic, JLCPCB and PCBWay profiles use the same board geometry with their own supported filenames and assembly columns. DNP and hand-fit parts stay on engineering drawings while vendor placement files contain only eligible fitted parts.
Review the exact candidate
Prepare freezes the board/profile/rule/fill identities, findings, every filename, byte count and SHA-256 hash. The preview independently reparses Gerber, drill, CSV, JSON, PDF and STEP files. A blocking result remains blocked, and a partial file selection remains a draft.
Record the human engineering review for that exact candidate. Any board, mapping, rule, placement, copper, fill, assembly or profile change makes it stale.
Deliver
Choose ZIP, folder or selected files. Each mode writes the exact retained bytes; delivery does not recompile the board.
The default Supplier upload output writes two folders. Upload to supplier holds one Gerber ZIP containing only the Gerber and drill files, plus the BOM and placement file. Upload only that folder. Records (do not upload) keeps the manifest, job file, drawings, notes and reports for your own files. Leave the supplier's order remarks blank and use their order form for specifications. Your free-text manufacturing notes stay in the project and are never printed in supplier documents, so a shop never mistakes design history for a change request.
Every rotated pad is written with its rotation built into its own shape, which every fabricator's CAM reads the same way. Before export, JetCad3 reads each Gerber back and stops if any pad would come out differently from the board you designed. Folder replacement is staged and rolled back on failure. Duplicate paths, changed bytes, collisions, insufficient disk space and interrupted replacement stop safely.
A project archive is a separate explicit option and is not part of the normal manufacturer upload. Before ordering, compare the fabricator preview with the JC3 candidate: outline, drills, copper, layer count, bottom placement, rotations, fitted/DNP treatment and BOM/placement designators. JetCad3 prepares files; it does not place the order.