CAM Files

What are CAM Files?

 

CAM is the abbreviations of Computer Aided Manufacturing. In PCB manufacturing, the files with .cam format are CAM files, which are used directly in the manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs). The types of the files are

• Gerber file, which controls a photoplotter
• NC Drill file, which controls an NC Drill machine
• fab and assembly drawings in soft form (pen-plotter files)

 

The files represent the valuable final product of PCB design. They are handed off to the board house which further refines and manipulates CAM data in their processes, for example in step- and-repeat panelization. Some PCB design software companies refer to all plotter or printer files as .cam, although some of the plots may be check plots which are not used in manufacture.

 

What’s a .cam File when Opened in TXT?

 

When open a .cam in TXT, you may find following data:

*STATUSB
MODE Cam
DATABASE 167506.cam
VERSION 11.0
DBVERSION 10.960000
DB_EXT -13222750 -8326035 53916250 51212965
*END_STATUS

*SETTINGS
UNIT 1
RESOLUTION 10000
WND_CENTER 18996750 20043250
WND_EXT 164729756 62515947
GRID3 0 0 0 2
1270000 1270000 5000000 5000000
635000 635000 2500000 2500000
317500 317500 1500000 1500000
254000 254000 1250000 1250000
127000 127000 500000 500000
GRID3 1 1 1 2
1270000 1270000 5000000 5000000
635000 635000 2500000 2500000
317500 317500 1500000 1500000
254000 254000 1250000 1250000
127000 127000 500000 500000
GRID3 2 1 1 3
254000 254000 2000000 2000000
127000 127000 1000000 1000000
101600 101600 750000 750000
50800 50800 500000 500000
25400 25400 250000 250000
GRID3 3 1 1 2
1270000 1270000 5000000 5000000
635000 635000 2500000 2500000
317500 317500 1500000 1500000
254000 254000 1250000 1250000
127000 127000 500000 500000
GRID3 4 1 1 2
1270000 1270000 5000000 5000000
635000 635000 2500000 2500000
317500 317500 1500000 1500000
254000 254000 1250000 1250000
127000 127000 500000 500000
GRID3 5 0 0 2
1270000 1270000 5000000 5000000
635000 635000 2500000 2500000
317500 317500 1500000 1500000
254000 254000 1250000 1250000
127000 127000 500000 500000

…

 

You can copy and past the following data into a .txt file, then you can save it as a cam file by change .txt to .cam. When you open this this file with a PCB program, like Altium Designer, you will see it is a tiny 4-layer board with depth-controlled vias (the same as the image in this page). MADPCB is a PCB manufacturer, which is able to produce thru-hole and HDI printed circuit boards.