Putting multiple Eagle boards on one panel

I've just looked at Olimex as a PCB manufacturer and their standard board size is 160x100mm.

I can put multiple Eagle PCBs on one board of this size using cut & paste, being careful with DRC and ratsnest in each individual board file. However, the free version of Eagle is limited by size so I can't actually make use of the whole board area.

Except paying for another version of Eagle, which is out of my price range, is there a way to combine multiple gerber/drill files in order to panellise multiple boards?

Your second paragraph says "the free version...."
The third says "paying for another...". So what is it?
You got a free trail version of the program. Use it within it's limitations and pony up if you are serious.

There is a "non-profit" 100x160mm version available for US$125 from CadsoftUSA, and £99.88 from Puresoft in UK. This is similar in scale to the cost of a few PCB orders.

There are many Gerber viewers, some are free. I am told that a Gerber file is easy to edit (it's only text) if you understand it, but I have no experience.

I didn't realise it was available for that price. Much more sensible and I'll look into it.

And to the first reply I don't believe in pirating software but I don't have £500 for a hobby. Hence I asked for alternative options I might have missed, such as Gerber editors.

If anybody knows of a way to do this I'd be very grateful.

I copied this from the Olimex web site FAQs.

Q: Can I send you several small board files which to be panelized to one of your panels?
A: Yes. We can do this free of charge. When you are sending more than one board file please attach picture how the boards should be panelized.

Hi David (edeca),

panelizing Eagle boards will probably get you into some trouble when populating a board.

Say you designed two boards each starting part count at R1, C1 etc. Eagle renumbers parts of a follow on board.

If board 01 has the last count of Rs at R29 the next board will have the count start at R30 instead of R1.

Also, according to the info you gave me via Skype Olimex seems to be kind of overprized.

Why not give it a try at bilex-lp ?

For multiple small boards to make the minimum order of 160X100mm total size contact Mr. Hristo Ginov for details. Bilex panelizes all boards for optimum space usage.

Additionally Bilex cuts the boards free of charge (and without order). I was prepared to cut 120 individual SO-8 to DIP-8 adapter boards myself when I ordered the board.

All of them were machined neatly when being delivered.

Regards

Hans