We are having a problem with the gold card edge connector 
 contacts on our boards burring during board edge routing at fab. 
 This is causing a great deal of hand sanding after the boards 
 are assembled and removed from the panel.  Our contacts use an 
 external plating strip using the entire contact width (.040).  
 This was done for 2 reasons:  1) I do not have vias or holes at 
 every contact (SMT),  2) I do not have any internal signal 
 layers (2 ext/2 planes).  I realize I may have to go to a THT 
 connector, but would prefer to avoid it. 
 
 I pose the following questions:
  
 1) Does anyone do internal plating strips using the plane 
 layers?  If so, could explain exactly how you are doing it.
 
 2) Does anyone use a smaller trace width from the contact to the 
 external plating strip?  If so, what width and is it centered or 
 offset to one side?  Has this caused any peeling or burring 
 problems?
 
 3) Is your Fab house doing anything special to prevent burring?
 
 4) Has anyone tried scoring along the gold contacts?  If so, how 
 did it work out?  Did the contacts burr or did it give an 
 acceptable edge?
 
 5) Does anyone spec a chamfer along the contact edge of the PCB 
 on a panelized design?  If so, how does it affect cost?  What 
 chamfer was spec'd?
 
 I would like to hear anyone's experiences with gold contacts, 
 either good or bad.  All suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 
 Thanks in advance!
 
 Brandon Luther
 Dataram Corp.
 Princeton, N.J.
 [log in to unmask]
 (609) 799-0071 x310

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