The tools in the selected file are listed in the middle of the tab. The Manuf. size is the tool diameter that will be used in production. This is rounded from the Orig. size (the tool diameter specified in the input file) to the nearest 0.05mm (or 0.01mm for very small tools). Tool diameters are shown in the unit of measure selected at the bottom right corner of the Drill tools pane.

The Tool number is the tool identifier in the drill file. If Plated is checked, then holes drilled with this tool will be plated. Count is the number of drill holes in the file to be drilled by that tool.

To modify a tool diameter, click on the diameter in the Manuf. size column and type the desired size. Press the Enter key to finish editing. Pressing enter again allows you to modify the diameter of the next tool.

You can copy all tool definitions to the tool list in one operation. To do this, locate the drill report file in the file grid, right-click and choose View file. Select the rows of text which contain the tool definitions, rightclick and choose Copy. Then right-click on the tool list and choose Paste tool sizes from clipboard.

Pasting tool sizes makes the following assumptions:

• One tool definition per line of text
• Individual parameters in each line must be separated by spaces or tabs
• If a parameter contains 'T' followed by an integer value, that will be the tool number. Otherwise, the first integer value found in the line will be the tool number.
• If the tool number was specified with a 'T' then the tool diameter will be the first numeric parameter found in the line. Otherwise, the tool diameter will be the first numeric value after the tool number.
• If the tool diameter contains 'mm', 'mil' or 'inch' then that text will determine the unit of measure for the tool diameter. Otherwise, currently selected unit of measure will be used.
• If a parameter of 'N', 'NTPH' or 'no' is found, then the tool will be marked as unplated.

Note: A hole will not necessarily be plated just because the tool is specified as a plated tool. The hole must also be surrounded by copper pads on the top and bottom layers in order for the plating process to be successful. The manufacturer enlarges plated tools slightly to compensate for the plating thickness. Therefore, “plated” holes without copper pads will be slightly larger than if they had not been marked as plated.

Some CAD systems generate drill files which do not have the same scale or offset as the Gerber files. In such cases, the scale or offset must be adjusted manually so that the drill holes match their corresponding pads in the other layers. These adjustments apply to all drill files, including any drill files added to the product after scaling. If the drill files do not have the same scale, then this must be corrected by the CAD program. There are typically two kinds of scaling errors:

Decimal point errors: To adjust for decimal point errors, click one or more times on the x10 or ÷10 button. x10 makes the drill image 10 times larger than it was, while ÷10 reduces the drill image to 1/10 of its size.

Inch/mm errors: In the same manner, the x25.4 and ÷25.4 buttons may be used to adjust for inch/mm errors.

It may take some trial and error to find the correct scale. Avoid using x10 or x25.4 after having used ÷10 or ÷25.4, since this will lead to some loss of precision in the hole coordinates. It may be a good idea to use File|New product and reimport your files once you have found the correct scaling factor.

Once you have found the correct scale (and rotation and mirroring, if necessary) use the Autolink|Create filter from current mapping command to create a filter which includes these drill file parameters.

Note: If you are having difficulties getting the correct scaling of drill files, you can open the files in a plain text editor (such as WordPad) and modify them manually. Adding something like the following 3 lines, to the beginning of the file, will specify the correct scaling to the Import module.

M48
METRIC,TZ,000.000
%

In this example, metric coordinates without leading zeros and 3 digits after the decimal point are used. If coordinates are in inches, then the first parameter should be INCH. If trailing zeros are omitted, then the second parameter should be LZ. The third parameter should list the number of digits before and after the decimal point (such as 00.0000 or 00.000). If your file already contains any of these lines, then you should only add or edit the text which is not present. A drill file should only contain one of each of these three types of lines.

Some CAD systems do not generate drill files with the same coordinate origin as the Gerber files. If this is the case, then the drill hole coordinates must be offset so that they align with their corresponding pads in the Gerber files.

To move the drill files so that they match the Gerber files:

1. If necessary, use the Rotate or Mirror buttons so that the drill pattern matches the copper. The Rotate button rotates around the file origin. The Mirror button mirrors along the X=Y diagonal. You may need to zoom out to see the entire image.
2. Click on the Align drill with pattern button (leftmost button above the graphic display) so that it is depressed.
3. Using the left mouse button, click and draw a selection rectangle around a drill hole, and then release the mouse button. A “rubber-band” line should appear between the selected drill hole and the mouse pointer. 
4. Using the left mouse button, click and draw a selection rectangle around the corresponding pad for the selected drill hole, and then release the mouse button. The drill image should snap to the Gerber image, and the Align drill with pattern button be released.

Drill file offset applies to all drill files. If necessary, adjust the setup of your CAD system so that all drill files are generated with the same coordinate origin.

IPC has defined several types of via protection in the IPC-4761 standard. In order to specify which holes should be protected, a separate layer showing the holes to be filled should be added to the board. This layer may be imported as a separate Gerber file, or it may be generated from the existing drill file(s).

If your CAD system has generated a Gerber file with the via holes to be protected, press fit or countersunk; link that file to the Tented vias, Plugged vias, Filled vias, Capped vias, Press-fit holes or Countersink layer in the Additional layers submenu.

If you do not have such a Gerber file available, a via protection, press-fit or countersink layer may be created by specifying the via protection for one or more tools in a drill file. This is done by right-clicking on a tool in the Drill tools pane and choosing press-fit, countersink or the desired type of via protection.

To remove via protection from a tool, right-click on the tool and choose Remove via protection.

The About via protection menu item opens a web page with an explanation of the various via protection types.

Note: All tool diameters should be correctly defined prior to marking tools with via protection, press-fit or countersink.