Ahmedabad - 382430, Gujarat (India)
In my 20+ years of working on the factory floor at Megabyte Circuit Systems, I’ve seen hundreds of brilliant hardware engineers and IoT startups hit a frustrating roadblock right at the finish line. You’ve just finished routing a beautiful board in KiCad. The Design Rules Check (DRC) is perfectly clean, the 3D viewer looks incredible, and you are finally ready to hold the physical board in your hands.
But here is where I see nearly 30% of engineers stumble: translating that perfect KiCad design into manufacturing-ready Gerber and drill files.
Think of Gerber files as the universal language of PCB manufacturing. No matter how great your design is on screen, if your exported files are missing a board outline or have misaligned drill hits, your project is going to face immediate delays. Whether you’re a student building a simple project or a senior engineer pushing industrial boundaries, this guide is going to walk you through exactly how to export your files right the first time. As a trusted consultant, I’m going to share the exact settings we prefer at our factory so your board moves straight to the production line without a single hitch.
Gerber files act as the universal language between PCB design software like KiCad and the manufacturer’s Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems. Generating accurate layer plots and Excellon drill files ensures zero production holds, precise etching, and perfect layer alignment, regardless of whether it’s a simple single-sided board or a complex multilayer design.
When you hit “export,” you aren’t just saving a picture; you are generating the exact toolpaths for our photoplotters, CNC drills, and automated optical inspection (AOI) machines. If you are just prototyping a basic Single Layer PCB for a quick proof-of-concept, the manufacturing tolerances might be quite forgiving. But the moment you step into high-speed digital designs requiring tight impedance control on a Multilayer PCB, every single micron in your Gerber data matters.
If your files are correct, we can process your order immediately. If they aren’t, it triggers an engineering hold, a string of emails, and days added to your lead time. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen to your project.
Before exporting from KiCad, always run a final Design Rules Check (DRC) to catch trace clearance violations, unrouted nets, or overlapping courtyards. Fixing Design for Manufacturing (DFM) issues pre-export prevents back-and-forth emails with your fabricator and guarantees your board meets standard manufacturing tolerances.
One thing I always tell my clients is to never export without running a final DRC. It’s the easiest way to catch those small, easily overlooked mistakes. Go to the top toolbar in KiCad’s PCB Editor and click the DRC icon (the ladybug). Hit “Run DRC.”
You need to ensure that your trace widths and clearances match your manufacturer’s capabilities. For example, if you are calculating trace impedance for high-speed signals, you might be using standard microstrip formulas to dictate your constraints:
While the math gives you your exact trace width ($w$) and dielectric height ($h$), you must ensure those resulting numbers don’t violate our factory’s minimum spacing rules (typically 4mil or 5mil for advanced boards). Resolve any unrouted nets, ensure your silkscreen text doesn’t overlap exposed copper soldering pads, and verify your copper pours have completely filled before moving to the next step.
To export Gerber files in KiCad, navigate to File > Fabrication Outputs > Gerbers. Ensure you select the correct copper, solder mask, silkscreen, and Edge.Cuts layers, check the “Use Protel filename extensions” option, and set the coordinate format to 4.6 mm for maximum precision.
Alright, let’s get down to the actual export. In your KiCad PCB Editor, navigate to File > Fabrication Outputs > Gerbers (.gbr). This opens the main Plot dialog box.
First, select your output directory. I highly recommend creating a dedicated folder named Gerbers_ProjectName_v1.0 so you don’t accidentally mix up old and new design iterations.
Next, you need to select the right layers. Here is the exact checklist I want you to follow for a standard board:
KiCad Layer Name | Protel Extension | Purpose in Manufacturing |
F.Cu | .GTL | Top copper layer (traces, pads, planes) |
B.Cu | .GBL | Bottom copper layer |
F.Mask | .GTS | Top Solder Mask (where the green/colored ink goes) |
B.Mask | .GBS | Bottom Solder Mask |
F.Silkscreen | .GTO | Top Silkscreen (white text, logos, component outlines) |
B.Silkscreen | .GBO | Bottom Silkscreen |
Edge.Cuts | .GKO or .GM1 | The physical board outline and internal cutouts |
Note: If your design has inner copper layers (e.g., In1.Cu, In2.Cu), make sure those boxes are checked as well.
On the right side of the Plot window, configure these exact settings to ensure compatibility with modern CAM software:
Once your layers and settings are dialed in, click the Plot button at the bottom.
Have you successfully exported your layers? Compress them into a ZIP file and upload it directly to the Megabyte PCB Calculator to check your instant pricing!
Drill files dictate the size and location of all physical holes on your PCB. In KiCad’s Drill Files dialog, select the Excellon format, check “PTH and NPTH in single file” (if your fabricator supports it), and ensure the origin matches your Gerber plot settings to avoid drill offset errors.
You’ve exported the pictures; now we need the holes. Without this specific file, your board will just be a solid, un-drilled piece of fiberglass.
Close the Plot window and go to File > Fabrication Outputs > Drill Files.
When we process a standard Double Layer PCB at our facility, achieving perfect registration between the top copper, the bottom copper, and the Excellon drill file is what guarantees a reliable, conductive Plated Through Hole (PTH). If your drill file is slightly offset from your copper layers, the drill bit will destroy your pads and sever your connections.
Here are the bulletproof settings for the KiCad Drill window:
Click Generate Drill File. You are almost completely done.
The most common KiCad export mistakes include missing the Edge.Cuts (board outline) layer, generating drill files in a different scale than the Gerbers, and forgetting to export the soldermask layers for SMD components. Always inspect your generated ZIP file in a third-party Gerber viewer before submission.
In my two decades of reviewing customer files, I see the same three mistakes almost every single day. If you want a perfectly smooth experience with our PCB Manufacturing service, double-check these exact points before sending your files:
Consolidate your KiCad Gerber and Excellon drill files into a single ZIP archive without subfolders. Upload this package to an automated quoting engine to instantly verify your board dimensions, layer count, and overall fabrication costs before hitting production.
Never trust your CAD software blindly. Before you send us your hard work, open KiCad’s built-in Gerber Viewer and load your freshly generated files. Check the visual alignment carefully. Do the drill holes line up perfectly in the center of the copper pads? Does the board outline look complete and continuous?
If everything looks solid, highlight all the .g** files and your .drl file, right-click, and compress them into a single .ZIP file. Please, do not put them in nested subfolders—just place the files directly in the root of the zip archive.
Don’t wait around for manual email quotes. You can immediately upload that finalized ZIP file to our PCB Calculator. Our system will read your KiCad Gerber files, automatically detect your board dimensions, calculate the layer count, and give you an instant, accurate price for manufacturing right here in India.
Partnering with a domestic manufacturer like Megabyte Circuit Systems ensures your KiCad designs are built to IPC-A-600 standards without exorbitant shipping fees or import delays. Optimizing your board size, standardizing drill hits, and staying within standard FR4 specs will significantly reduce your prototyping costs.
A lot of hardware startups still default to overseas manufacturers out of habit, but the landscape has completely changed. When you manufacture locally with us, you avoid customs delays, unpredictable import duties, and difficult communication barriers. Every board we produce undergoes rigorous E-testing and flying probe tests to ensure 100% electrical continuity, strictly adhering to IPC-A-600 standards.
If you are looking to optimize costs on your next manufacturing run, keep your board rectangular, stick to a standard 1.6mm FR4 thickness, and try to minimize the number of unique drill sizes in your KiCad design. Fewer tool changes equal a faster, cheaper fabrication process.
No, you do not need to send us courtyard or Fab layers for standard bare-board manufacturing. Those layers are strictly for your own reference or for the assembly house to know where components are placed. For bare-board fabrication, we only need Copper, Mask, Silk, Edge.Cuts, and Drill files.
PTH stands for Plated Through Hole, meaning the inside of the hole is electroplated with copper to electrically connect layers (like vias or through-hole component pads). NPTH means Non-Plated Through Hole, which are plain drilled holes usually used for mounting screws, standoffs, or mechanical alignment.
We highly recommend sticking with the standard Gerber RS-274X format for maximum compatibility across all machines. While X2 includes extra metadata, standard RS-274X combined with a separate Excellon drill file has been the bulletproof industry standard for decades.
Use a Gerber Viewer! KiCad has one built-in, but you can also use various free online viewers. Simply drag and drop your ZIP file into the viewer and toggle the layers on and off. If you can clearly see your traces, pads, and drill holes aligning properly, the factory CAM engineers will see the exact same thing.
Absolutely. We specialize in everything from rapid prototyping of simple single-sided boards to highly complex, impedance-controlled multilayer PCBs. Just ensure your layer stackup and drill pairs are clearly defined and communicated in your export package.
Exporting from KiCad doesn’t have to be a guessing game. By following this exact checklist, you are guaranteeing that your files are 100% manufacturing-ready, allowing us to get your boards onto the production floor significantly faster.
At Megabyte Circuit Systems, we’ve built our reputation across India by supporting hardware developers with unparalleled quality, fast turnarounds, and deep technical support right out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Ready to bring your KiCad design to life? Head over to our online calculator, upload your Gerber ZIP file, and let’s get your hardware built right, the very first time.